iililiiilliiiii'i 


WHAT  CHILDREN  STUDY 
AND  WHY 

A   Discussion   of  Educational   Values 
in  the  Elementary  Course  of  Study 


BY 

CHARLES   B.    GILBERT 

Formerly  Superintendent  of  Schools  of  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  Newark, 

N.  J.,  and  Rochester,  N.  Y.     Author  of  "  The  School  and 

Its  Life,"   "  Stepping  Stones  to   Literature," 

*'  Guide  Books  to  English,"  etc. 

^2-^0  7  3 


SILVER,   BURDETT  AND    COMPANY 

BOSTON  NEW  YORK  CHICAGO 


3  9>  1 7 


Copyright,  1913 
By  SncvEE,  Bxxrdett  and  Company 


^    ,'v.     1; 


PREFACE 

Why  is  the  course  of  study  in  use  in  our  elementary 
schools  constituted  as  it  is  ?  Why  are  reading,  spelling, 
arithmetic,  grammar,  and  history  taught  the  children, 
rather  than  knitting  and  shooting  and  guiding  auto- 
mobiles ? 

What  particular  gift  has  each  of  the  conventional 
school  studies  to  bestow  upon  the  children,  and  hence 
upon  society,  as  justification  for  its  place  in  the  curric- 
ulum and  as  compensation  for  the  labor,  the  tears, 
the  time  of  the  students,  and  the  care,  the  effort,  and 
the  financial  expenditures  of  the  community  ? 

These  are  questions  that  should  be  answered  by 
teachers,  parents,  and  public  officials,  if  the  best  results 
are  to  be  obtained  from  the  schools.  But  most  teachers 
take  the  course  of  study  handed  to  them  from  above 
and  teach  it  perfunctorily,  without  much  serious  con- 
sideration of  its  reason  for  being  or  for  its  motive. 
Most  parents  accept  the  courses  forced  upon  their  chil- 
dren, more  or  less  willingly,  but  with  the  vaguest 
notions  of  their  meaning  or  motive.  Most  school 
officials  accept  the  conventional  curriculum  inherited 
from  the  past  and  used  by  their  neighbors  and  pass  it 
on  to  their  own  schools,  taking  for  granted  that  it  is 
right. 

In  this  book  no  attempt  is  made  to  trace  the  history 
of  the  curriculum.     That  I  willingly  leave   to   more 


IV 


Preface 


learned  writers.  But  I  have  endeavored  to  give  in 
plain,  untechnical  terms  a  few  of  the  practical  psycho- 
logical and  sociological  reasons  for  teaching  the  subjects 
found  in  most  of  our  elementary  school  curricula,  and 
to  state  what  should  result,  from  their  study,  to  the 
benefit  of  the  children  and  of  society. 

In  some  cases,  also,  I  have  intimated  methods  that 
seem  likely  to  aid  in  securing  the  desired  results,  but  I 
have  not  attempted  to  discuss  methods  of  teaching  in 
detail.  That  has  been  well  done  by  several  writers  al- 
ready. However,  I  have  it  in  mind,  in  the  near  future, 
to  offer  a  book  discussing  methods  more  fully  than  the 
limits  of  the  present  work  allow,  basing  such  discussion 
upon  the  specific  psychological  and  social  functions  of 
the  various  subjects  studied,  as  outHned  in  this  book. 

C.  B.  GILBERT. 


CONTENTS 


Preface  

CHAPTER 

I.  The  Course  of  Study  as  a  Whole 

II.  Reading  —  Function  of  the  Reading  Lesson 

III.  Reading  —  Methods  of  Instruction 

IV.  English  Language  Instruction 
V.  Language  Instruction  Methods 

VI.  English  Grammar 

VII.  English  Grammar  —  Instruction  Methods 

VIII.  Spelling 

IX.  Spelling — 'Methods  of  Instruction 

X.  Arithmetic 

XI.  Arithmetic  —  Methods  of  Instruction  . 
XII.  Arithmetic  —  Methods  of  Instruction  {Con- 
tinued)      

XIII.  History 

XIV.  History  {Continued) 

XV.  Geography 

XVI.  Geography  for  Primary  Grades 

XVII.  Geography  for  Gramm.\r  Grades    . 

XVIII.  Nature  Study  

XIX.  Nature  Study  —  Methods  of  Instruction 

•XX.  Physiology 

XXI.  Writing 

XXII.  Motor  Activities  in  Expression     . 

XXIII.  Industrial  Tr.\ining         .... 


PAGE 

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100 

103 

108 

127 

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146 

159 
171 

183 
1 88 
196 
201 
206 
223 
226 
247 


VI 


Contents 


CHAPTZB 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 

XXIX 


The  Fine  Arts  —  Singing 
The  Plastic  and  Gil^phic  Arts     . 
The  Development  of  Taste  . 
The  Correlation  of  Studies 
Efficiency  of  the  Course  of  Study 
Moral  Training      .... 


PAGE 

260 

266 
271 

275 
283 
291 


WHAT   CHILDREN   STUDY 

AND  Why 

CHAPTER  I 
The  Course  of  Study  as  a  Whole 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  book  to  discuss  the  Course  of 
Study  of  our  elementary  schools,  treating  its  different 
subjects  and  departments  seriatim  and  in  some  detail. 
But  as  a  preliminary  to  such  particular  discussion,  it 
seems  necessary  to  consider  briefly  the  curriculum  as  a 
whole,  as  to  its  aim  and  general  character. 

The  course  of  study  in  a  system  of  schools,  whether 
of  a  state,  a  county,  or  a  municipality,  serves  a  two- 
fold purpose :  one  economic,  the  other  educational.  Its 
economic  function  is  the  unifying  of  the  schools.  It  is 
the  cohesive  force  that  makes  of  an  aggregation  of  schools 
a  system.  The  educational  function  of  the  course  is  to 
serve  as  a  guide  to  the  teachers  in  their  work ;  for,  unlike 
the  ordinary  college  curriculum,  it  is  not  made  by  those 
who  are  to  use  it,  and  hence  may  not  be  departed  from 
at  will.  These  two  main  functions  call  for  special  charac- 
teristics. 

I.     THE   ECONOMIC   FUNCTION 

First,  the  economic  function :  what  sort  of  unity  is 
desirable  in  a  school  system,  and  how  may  a  course  of 
study  promote  such  unity? 


2  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

Naturally,  if  the  pupils  in  the  schools  are  uniformly 
and  exactly  graded  and  daily  tasks  are  prescribed  for  all 
the  grades,  the  result  will  be  uniformity,  and  uniformity 
is  a  kind  of  unity. 

Is  it  possible  to  give  due  recognition  to  a  desirable 
freedom  for  the  teachers  and  to  the  varying  needs  of 
children  coming  from  many  kinds  of  homes,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  preserve  necessary  unity  ? 

In  any  one  of  our  larger  cities,  with  its  heterogeneous 
population,  with  the  widely  differing  needs  of  black  and 
white,  foreign-born  and  native,  children  of  millionaire 
and  of  ditch  digger,  those  from  homes  of  luxury  and 
culture,  where  all  the  influences  supplement  the  work 
of  the  school,  and  those  from  the  abodes  of  poverty,  vice, 
and  ignorance,  who  are  kept  in  school  only  through  the 
force  of  law,  —  is  it  possible  under  such  varying  con- 
ditions to  frame  a  single  course  of  study  that  will  prop- 
erly regard  the  needs  of  all  and  do  violence  to  none  ? 
Is  there  any  wide  field  of  knowledge,  any  single  line  of 
intellectual  activities,  of  such  universal  adaptation  that 
all  may  profitably  spend  time  in  their  cultivation  and 
pursuit?  Even  if  such  subjects  of  study  can  be  found, 
is  it  well  to  attempt  to  require  the  same  attainments  in 
them  of  all  children  of  all  sorts?  In  other  words,  is 
it  possible  to  frame  a  prescriptive  course  of  study  for 
New  York  or  Chicago  or  Philadelphia,  or  even  for  a  small 
city,  that  will  not  do  violence  to  the  needs,  not  only  of 
many  individuals,  but  of  some  whole  classes  of  children, 
some  entire  schools?  If  it  were  possible  to  frame  a 
course  having  this  negative  adaptation,  is  it  desirable, 
or  is  it  necessary  to  the  preservation  of  proper  unity  in 
a  system? 


The  Course  of  Study  as  a  Whole  3 

What  Uniformity  is  Desirable.  —  What  degree  of 
uniformity  in  a  school  system  is  desirable  or  necessary 
to  the  preservation  of  unity  ? 

1 .  It  should  be  possible  for  every  child  to  pass  through 
all  the  grades  of  a  system,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest, 
without  serious  hindrance  because  of  differences  of  sub- 
ject matter  taught,  or  of  administration. 

2.  It  should  be  possible  for  children  changing  their 
residences  to  go  from  one  school  to  another  without 
loss  of  grade  or  other  embarrassment  arising  from  dif- 
ferences in  instruction.  The  good  of  the  individual 
children  requires  this  degree  of  uniformity. 

3.  It  should  be  possible  for  supervising  officials  to  judge 
of  the  efficiency  of  teachers  according  to  some  standard  of 
attainment  on  the  part  of  the  pupils.  It  is  not  necessary, 
however,  for  this  standard  to  be  strictly  uniform. 

4.  It  is  desirable,  but  not  essential,  that  instructions 
given  to  teachers  and  aids  furnished  them  for  their 
work  be  of  general  service.  This  is  more  important  in 
smaller  communities  than  in  very  large  cities,  in  which 
division  of  the  supervising  force  and  differentiation  of 
function  among  its  members  are  possible.  These  needs 
seem  to  indicate  the  natural  limits  of  necessary  uniformity 
in  a  course  of  study  in  a  school  system. 

Differences  in  Administration  Desirable.  —  It  seems 
to  me  beyond  question  that  there  should  be  great  differ- 
ences in  the  course  as  administered  in  different  schools, 
especially  in  large  cities.  The  children  of  the  poor 
foreigner,  who  hear  no  English  in  the  home,  who  them- 
selves are  accustomed  to  speak  a  foreign  tongue,  whose 
knowledge  of  the  English  language  is  limited  to  a  few 
incorrect  or  slang  phrases  picked  up  on  the  street,  and 

t 


4  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

whose  schooling  is  almost  sure  to  be  limited  to  the  mini- 
mum required  by  law,  certainly  must  have  instruction 
different  from  that  needed  by  children  who  have  been 
accustomed  from  infancy  to  good  English  onJy,  and  who 
are  reasonably  sure  to  continue  in  school  at  least  to  the 
end  of  the  public  school  course.  With  the  same  course 
of  study,  the  knowledge  acquired  by  these  children  is 
sure  to  dififer  greatly ;  and  the  desired  end  of  intellectual 
growth  by  all,  as  nearly  equal  as  possible,  would  be 
greatly  facilitated  by  treatment  adapted  to  their  indi- 
vidual conditions. 

Unity  of  Aim  and  Purpose.  —  The  unity  to  be  sought 
is  one  of  aim  and  purpose,  the  development  of  each 
child  into  the  best  possible  for  him.  Individual  growth, 
rather  than  the  knowledge  of  the  same  facts  by  all,  is 
the  end  to  be  desired. 

A  Necessary  Minimum.  —  A  minimum  must  be  fixed, 
necessarily,  and  this  is  not  difficult.  There  are  certain 
subjects  so  nearly  universal  in  their  adaptation  that  all 
children  should  pursue  them.  The  differences  should  be 
mainly  in  the  details  of  these  subjects  and  in  the  methods 
of  presentation. 

The  subjects  a  knowledge  of  which  the  experience  of 
mankind  has  singled  out  as  essential  to  such  an  educa- 
tion as  the  good  citizen  needs,  are :  Reading  with  its 
corollary,  good  Kterature ;  writing ;  the  use  of  the  pre- 
vailing language,  with  us,  English;  arithmetic;  and 
history,  especially  of  the  student's  own  country ;  and  of 
minor,  though  great,  importance  to  all,  the  laws  and 
phenomena  of  nature,  and  various  manual  and  industrial 
arts,  such  as  drawing  and  the  use  of  tools.  These  should 
be  in   all  elementary  courses  of  study.     But  it  by  no 


The  Course  of  Study  as  a  Whole  5 

means  follows  that  all  students  should  be  taught  all 
these  subjects  to  the  same  extent,  or  in  the  same  manner. 
Their  presence  in  a  course  of  study  insures  unity.  Free- 
dom in  their  treatment,  in  the  emphasis  placed  upon 
them,  and  in  their  correlations  with  one  another,  as  sug- 
gested by  the  mental  and  social  status  of  the  pupils, 
gives  the  variety  in  unity  which  is  to  be  desired. 

Correlation  Necessary.  —  A  proper  correlation  of 
subjects,  allowing  the  placing  of  stress  upon  this  phase 
or  that,  is  one  key  to  the  problem.  For  example,  the 
children  of  very  many  immigrant  famihes  need,  for  a 
time  at  least,  to  recognize  the  fact  that  all  other  subjects 
must  be  subordinated  to  the  study  of  the  English  lan- 
guage. That  does  not  mean,  however,  that  no  other 
subject  should  be  studied.  The  same  subjects  may  be 
pursued  by  them  as  by  other  children,  but  with  a  change 
of  emphasis.  Language  cannot  be  taught  alone.  It 
is  the  medium  for  the  expression  of  thought.  Hence 
"  content  "  subjects  must  accompany  the  study  of  lan- 
guage and  furnish  thought  for  expression,  else  the  in- 
struction in  language  will  be  barren.  Such  "content" 
subjects  are  the  great  fundamental  interests  of  humanity, 
the  laws  and  phenomena  of  nature,  the  ideals,  the  occupa- 
tions, and  the  achievements  of  men  —  that  is,  "  nature 
study,"  history,  literature,  and  the  industries.  But 
while  all  children  should  study  these  subjects,  the  em- 
phasis and  the  portion  of  time  given  to  each  should  vary 
as  widely  as  do  the  children  themselves. 

Stress  should  be  Varied.  —  In  some  cases  the  chief 
stress  should  be  upon  the  "  content"  study  itself,  and 
this  should  be  chosen  with  reference  to  the  needs  of 
the  children.     To  those  from  poor  and  sordid  homes, 


6  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

literature  and  history,  imparting  ideals,  should  be  made 
much  of.  To  the  children  of  well-to-do  parents  with 
aristocratic  tendencies,  human  industries  as  exempli- 
fied in  manual  training  exercises  should  be  prominent 
as  content  studies.  With  other  chiildren,  as  indi- 
cated above,  the  form  of  expression  itself  should  re- 
ceive the  chief  attention.  The  need  of  each  must  be 
considered.  It  will  not  do  to  give  brimstone  and  treacle 
to  all  because  it  may  be  good  for  some.  A  mechanical 
uniformity,  regardless  of  local  or  indi\'idual  conditions, 
not  only  wastes  the  time  and  energies  of  pupils,  but 
prevents  even  reasonable  equality  of  result  in  spiritual 
growth  and  in  attainment  throughout  the  system. 

Course  Adaptable. — A  course  of  study,  then,  to  secure 
unity  to  the  system,  need  not  be  rigidly  prescriptive.  It 
should  require  that  fundamental  subjects  be  taught 
thoroughly  in  all  schools,  but  should  allow  details  of  sub- 
ject matter,  the  choice  of  material  for  elaboration  and 
illustration  and,  in  the  main,  methods  of  instruction, 
to  be  determined  by  local  and  indi\ddual  needs. 

Results  Required.  —  The  absolute  requirement  should 
be  "  results,"  as  shown  in  the  knowledge  and  power  of  the 
children,  and  these  results  should  be  determined,  not 
by  any  narrow  tests,  but  by  standards  of  growth  wisely 
and  personally  appKed.  These  necessarily  include  steady 
progress  by  the  children  in  fitness  for  life  as  it  comes  to 
them,  and  the  acquisition  of  sufficient  intellectual  power 
and  knowledge  to  enable  them  to  meet  the, demands  of 
what  comes  next,  whether  in  school  or  out.  • 

All  children  should  acquire  at  least  a  reasonable 
minimum  of  knowledge  of  the  accepted  fundamentals, 
but  not  necessarily  all  the  knowledge,  or  the  same  knowl- 


The  Course  of  Study  as  a  Whole  7 

edge,  of  those  subjects  that  other  children  in  the  same 
or  in  other  schools  may  possess,  but  merely  that  which 
is  essential  to  progression.  A  pupil  who  cannot  perform 
reasonably  difficult  problems  in  addition  and  multipli- 
cation is  not  qualified  to  work  in  interest,  and  if  this 
power  has  not  been  acquired  at  the  proper  time,  some- 
thing has  been  wrong,  because  these  subjects  are  fun- 
damental in  mathematics.  But  a  knowledge  of  duo- 
decimals is  not  essential  to  work  in  percentage,  even 
if  it  comes  before  it  in  the  book. 

Course  should  be  Rich  in  Suggestion.  —  In  addition 
to  stating  in  broad  general  terms  the  prescribed  funda- 
mental subjects,  with  their  requirements  for  each  grade, 
the  unity  of  the  system  requires  that  the  course  of  study 
be  rich  in  suggestion  as  to  detail,  as  to  additional  material, 
and  as  to  the  development  of  the  different  subjects. 
While  mandatory  instruction  as  to  details  of  matter  and 
of  method  are  dangerous,  not  only  to  the  freedom  of  the 
teacher,  but  also  to  the  real  spiritual  unity  of  the  system 
itself,  suggestions  as  to  these  matters  are  promotive  of 
both  these  desirable  ends. 

If  the  unity  of  the  system  is  to  be  one  of  spirit  and  of 
aim,  all  means  that  tend  to  make  clear  the  aim  and  to 
cultivate  the  proper  spirit  are  helpful.  The  highest 
and  best  unity  can  be  secured  through  freedom  stimu- 
lated by  suggestion  and  inspiration,  never  through  force 
or  prescription. 

2.    THE   EDUCATIONAL  FUNCTION 

The  educational  function  of  a  course  of  study  is  to 
serve  as  a  guide  to  the  teacher  in  his  daily  work.  The 
characteristics   that  are  required  for  the  preservation 


8  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

of  the  unity  of  the  system  are  equally  essential  to  this 
second  function.  There  must  be  prescription  as  to  funda- 
mentals, freedom  as  to  details  and  methods.  The  teacher 
needs  to  have  requirements  stated  positively  and  clearly 
so  that  he  may  be  sure  of  his  ground  and  may  qualify  his 
children  for  progress  without  check  or  setback.  The 
general  phases  of  the  subjects  upon  which  his  efforts  are 
to  be  expended,  and  the  results  expected  of  his  class, 
must  be  stated  in  unmistakable  language,  but  in  broad 
terms,  the  terms  of  unity  rather  than  of  uniformity. 

Daily  Programs  Harmful.  — The  course  of  study  should 
not  give  daily  programs  to  the  teachers  of  the  different 
grades,  even  approximately.  While  these  programs 
are  of  much  importance,  they  are  matters  of  detail  to 
be  worked  out  in  every  school  by  the  teacher  and  the 
principal,  according  to  local  conditions.  For  example, 
among  certain  classes  of  children  in  our  cities  the  power 
to  compute  seems  to  be  almost  hereditary,  and  the  desired 
results  can  be  secured  with  comparatively  Httle  effort, 
while  the  study  of  the  EngUsh  language  and  of  history 
and  civics  needs  a  large  share  of  the  time.  In  other 
quarters  the  reverse  of  this  condition  is  found. 

Initiative  to  be  Encouraged.  —  Moreover,  prescription 
as  to  details  of  subject  matter  and  of  method  and  as  to 
the  daily  program  is  injurious  to  the  teacher  and  de- 
structive of  good  teaching.  Teachers  who  are  fit  for 
their  places  can  attend  to  these  matters  better  than  the 
maker  of  the  course  of  study,  and  they  should  not 
merely  be  allowed,  they  should  be  compelled,  to  do  so 
for  their  own  growth. 

A  cast-iron  course  of  study  is  as  destructive  of  teach- 
ers as  the  shoes  worn  by  Chinese  ladies  are  of  their  feet. 


The  Course  of  Study  as  a  Whole  9 

The  school  machine  at  its  best  constantly  endangers  the 
teacher's  power  of  initiative,  his  most  valuable  mental 
possession.  Hence  every  effort  should  be  made  to  reduce 
this  danger  to  the  minimum.  A  premium,  rather  than  the 
threat  of  disapproval,  should  be  set  upon  originality  that 
secures  results  in  fresh  ways.  I  have  seen  scores,  hun- 
dreds, of  potentially  good  teachers  robbed  of  interest  and 
of  teaching  power  by  the  rigid  requirements,  in  minor 
matters,  of  the  course  of  study.  These  teachers,  when  de- 
prived of  this  corselet  and  compelled  to  stand  erect  alone, 
to  breathe  freely  and  to  act  unstayed,  have  been  dismayed 
and  helpless,  and  have  begged  to  be  told  again  just  what 
to  do  for  each  period  of  the  day ;  and  I  have  seen  many 
forced  into  activity  and  made  in  the  end  strong,  original, 
and  enthusiastic  teachers  through  being  compelled  to 
do  their  own  thinking  and  planning. 

Thus,  for  the  good  of  the  teacher,  as  well  as  for  the 
unity  of  the  system,  a  course  of  study  should  be  rigid 
in  its  requirements  as  to  results  in  the  fundamentals, 
but  should  leave  to  the  teachers  its  appHcation  and  ad- 
ministration in  particular  fields. 

It  should,  however,  supply  a  great  amount  of  material 
for  choice  and  should  suggest  method,  illustration,  and 
correlations,  all  in  the  spirit  of  the  system.  It  should 
abound  in  explanation,  suggestion,  and  inspiration  — 
in  all  sorts  of  genuine  helps ;  but  they  should  be  stimuli 
to  independent  effort,  not  predigested  food  to  take  its 
place. 

Course  not  too  Easy  to  Comprehend.  —  A  course  of 
study  should  not  be  too  easy  of  comprehension.  It 
should  require  the  teachers  to  study  the  course  itself,  in 
order  to  comprehend  it,  and  to  study  outside  the  course 


lO  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

for  help  in  administering  it.  A  course  that  a  teacher  can 
keep  in  his  desk  and  follow  satisfactorily  by  occasional 
references  to  it  is  a  feeble  course  indeed. 

A  good  course  necessarily  rests  upon  science  and  phi- 
losophy, both  psychological  and  sociological,  and  should 
continually  refer  the  teachers  to  these  sources  for  an  ex- 
planation of  its  principles,  and  should  require  of  them 
professional  research  and  study,  —  for  such  study  is  the 
teacher's  vital  breath. 

A  course  of  study  should  also  demand  for  its  administra- 
tion a  fair  amount  of  general  culture,  and  should  make 
necessary  constant  excursions  by  the  teacher  into  the 
fields  of  science,  history,  and  Uterature,  for  these  ex- 
cursions mean  personal  growth. 

Body  of  Knowledge  and  Range  of  Activities.  —  As 
education  consists  in  growth,  through  nutrition  and 
exercise,  that  is,  through  the  acquisition  of  knowledge 
and  through  expression  —  receiving  and  producing, 
import  and  export  —  the  course  should  make  provision 
for  both  these  processes.  It  should  provide  or  suggest 
a  body  of  knowledge  and  a  range  of  activities.  The  former 
calls  for  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  the  latter 
for  the  free  exercise  of  judgment  and  initiative. 

The  field  of  prescription  is  mainly  limited  to  the  body 
of  knowledge  and  indeed  to  the  main  and  fundamental 
facts  within  it. 

The  field  of  suggestion  and  inspiration  is  largely  in 
the  expressive  work  of  the  school.  As  expression  makes 
knowledge  vital,  the  range  of  activities  is  the  vitalizing 
part  of  the  course  of  study.  It  is  not  enough  that  a  course 
state  that  the  work  in  history  for  the  fifth  grade  shall 
cover  so  many  pages  of  such  and  such  books,  or  that  it 


The  Course  of  Study  as  a  Whole  ii 

shall  include  certain  named  topics ;  it  should  both  suggest 
more  topics  than  can  be  pursued,  and  should  throw  as 
many  side  lights  as  possible  upon  the  subjects;  should 
indicate  sources  of  information,  and  should  point  out 
possible  correlations  with  other  branches  of  study;  it 
should  suggest  methods  of  approach  and  various  means 
of  illustration.  Especially  should  it  show  how  impres- 
sions may  be  deepened  and  clarified  by  the  employment 
of  the  various  arts  of  expression,  as  the  writing  of  stories 
and  representation  with  pencil  or  brush  and  by  con- 
struction. In  short,  it  should  not  only  indicate  the 
subject  matter  to  be  taught,  properly  classified,  but 
should  also  open  the  eyes  of  the  teacher  to  all  possible 
means  for  making  the  teaching  effective,  that,  his  imagi- 
nation being  stimulated,  he  may  choose  or  originate  the 
best  available  instruments  and  methods.  If,  however, 
these  tilings  are  prescribed,  that  very  fact  makes  them 
mechanical  and  impairs  or  destroys  their  eflSciency. 

Here  is  the  opportunity  of  the  superintendent,  in  making 
the  course,  to  do  his  highest  work,  and  for  the  teacher, 
while  following  it,  to  do  his  highest  work. 

Resume.  —  A  course  of  study  has  two  main  purposes : 
to  preserve  the  unity  of  the  school  system,  and  to  serve 
as  a  guide  to  the  individual  teacher.  For  both  these 
ends  it  should  be  mandatory  and  prescriptive  as  to 
fundamentals,  but  broad,  free,  suggestive,  and  stimulat- 
ing as  to  details  and  methods'. 

The  course  should  require  the  teacher  to  study,  both 
for  a  comprehension  of  its  principles,  and  for  culture. 

It  should  be  based  upon  a  body  of  knowledge,  and 
should  indicate  a  range  of  activities.  Prescription  be- 
longs chiefly  to  the  former,  freedom  to  the  latter. 


12  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

But  throughout  the  course,  the  spirit  and  aim  must  be 
manifest.  If  the  aim  is  to  perfect  the  machine,  to  enable 
the  children  to  obtain  "  promotion  "  by  passing  a  formal 
examination,  that  should  be  made  evident  at  every  step, 
so  that  the  teacher  may  direct  his  efforts  successfully 
and  waste  none  on  iridescent  dreams.  But  if  the 
aim  is  really  the  growth  of  children  individually  into 
knowledge,  power,  and  civic  righteousness,  the  course 
of  study  should  make  that  truth  plain  at  every  step, 
that  the  teacher  may  be  inspired  by  the  high  aim,  and 
may  take  account  of  the  individual  status  and  needs  of 
the  children. 


CHAPTER  II 

Reading 

i.  function  of  the  reading  lesson 

The  Value  of  Reading.  —  Doubtless  arithmetic  in  its 
simpler  processes  satisfies  a  more  elemental  human  need 
than  does  reading.  The  illiterate  often  can  perform 
accurately  the  operations  upon  numbers  required  for  the 
commoner  business  transactions.  Indeed  they  must  do 
so  if  they  are  to  enter  into  even  the  simple  economic 
relations  necessary  to  making  a  living.  Whereas  read- 
ing, though  vastly  useful,  is  not  essential  to  such  relations. 
This  is  further  shown  by  the  fact  that  not  so  many  years 
ago  the  great  majority  of  successful  men,  even  the  very 
rich  and  powerful,  could  not  read  at  all.  But  mani- 
festly they  could  and  did  compute. 

Notwithstanding  this  fact,  it  is  still  true  that  reading 
makes  possible  the  satisfaction,  certainly  of  higher 
human  needs,  and  probably  of  a  larger  number,  than  does 
arithmetic.  Consider  the  limitations  of  him  who  can- 
not read.  How  small  is  his  field,  how  narrow  his  horizon, 
how  restricted  his  outlook.  The  limits  of  his  vision  and 
the  length  and  strength  of  his  legs  bound  his  world. 
He  knows  what  his  senses  tell  him  immediately,  and  the 
only  supplement  to  his  knowledge  derived  from  the  actual 
contact  with  things  comes  through  the  spoken  word, 
the   uncertainties   of    oral   recital.      Without    the   art 

13 


14  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

of  recording  thoughts  in  symbols  and  the  twin  art  of 
translating  the  symbols  again  into  thoughts,  man  has 
no  past  but  a  vague  and  brief  shadow,  and  no  present 
beyond  the  encircUng  horizon  observed  from  the  near-by 
liilltop. 

But  teach  him  to  read,  and  lo !  his  horizon  is  lost  in 
infinity.  All  the  past  is  his,  and  all  the  present.  He  may 
enter  at  once  the  glorious  democracy  of  letters.  The 
great  of  all  ages,  poets,  sages,  seers,  may  be  his  friends 
and  associates.  He  may  pace  the  academe  with  Plato, 
may  listen  to  the  inescapable  questions  of  Socrates. 
The  verses  of  Hafiz,  the  gentle  speech  of  Buddha,  the 
laws  of  Moses,  the  songs  of  Homer,  of  Dante,  of  Goethe, 
and  the  dramas  of  Shakespeare,  —  all  are  his.  He 
may  Hve  over  again  the  wanderings  and  sacrifice  of 
Abraham,  the  conquests  and  defeats  of  Cyrus  and  of 
Ceesar,  of  Charlemagne  and  of  Bonaparte,  of  Nelson  and 
of  Washington,  may  enter  into  the  struggles  and  tri- 
umphs of  GaHleo,  of  Newton,  and  of  Humboldt,  of 
Columbus,  of  Magellan,  and  of  Cortez,  —  and  all  because 
he  can  read. 

Truly,  not  even  gold,  that  magical  key,  can  open  the 
doors  to  so  many  treasure  houses,  so  many  gardens  of 
delight,  such  a  paradise  of  choice  spirits,  as  this  common 
art  of  reading,  the  chief  of  all  arts;  and  this  wonder- 
ful key  is  offered  to  every  boy  and  every  girl  at  the  price 
of  a  little  toil. 

Unfortunately,  many  who  are  given  the  key  never  use 
it  to  possess  themselves  of  the  treasures  within  their 
reach.  Why  is  this  ?  What  can  the  schools  do  to  bring 
a  larger  number  of  children  into  full  and  conscious 
possession  of  their  noble  heritage?    How  shall  reading 


Reading  15 

be  taught  so  as  to  secure  its  higher  as  well  as  its  lower 
ends? 

Aims  of  the  Reading  Lesson.  —  What  are  the  ends  to 
be  aimed  at  in  the  reading  lesson  ?  They  are :  (i)  Ability 
to  get  the  thought  conveyed  by  the  symbols  found  on 
the  printed  page,  accurately  and  speedily.  (2)  Ability 
to  judge  the  values  of  what  is  read,  a  discriminating 
taste,  and  a  genuine  love  for  good  hterature.  This  in- 
volves a  considerable  knowledge  by  the  children  of 
such  literature  as  properly  falls  within  the  field  of  their 
interest  and  comprehension.  (3)  Ability  to  read  aloud 
agreeably  and  effectively.  (4)  The  power  to  think  should 
be  cultivated  by  the  process  of  learning  to  read. 

2.     LEARNING   TO   READ 

Let  us  consider  learning  to  read,  what  it  is,  and  some 
of  the  commoner  methods  of  teaching  the  art,  and  also 
how  to  make  accurate  and  rapid  readers. 

Nature  of  Reading.  —  Reading  is  interpreting  sym- 
bols, imaging  the  ideas  and  thinking  the  thoughts 
symbolized.  The  complexity  of  the  symboHsm  em- 
ployed sometimes  causes  confusion  in  the  minds  of 
teachers,  and  is  responsible  for  over  emphasis  upon  the 
less  important  features,  producing  faulty  methods  and 
poor  results.  A  single  letter  stands  not  for  a  thought 
or  an  idea,  but  for  a  sound,  sometimes  for  any  one  of 
several  different  sounds,  according  to  the  relations  in 
which  it  occurs. 

Meaning  of  Letters,  —  The  written  word  has  two  dis- 
tinct phases :  it  stands  for  a  synthesis  of  the  various 
sounds  represented  by  the  different  letters  and  it  is  the 
symbol  of  an  idea.     For  example,  the    letters  r,  u,  n 


1 6  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

represent  not  ideas,  but  different  sounds,  effects  pro- 
duced upon  the  auditory  nerve  by  waves  of  air,  set  in 
motion  by  certain  muscular  movements  of  the  vocal 
organs.  But  these  sounds  heard  in  quick  succession 
produce  in  the  mind  an  idea  or  image  of  an  action  — 
running,  having  naturally  no  relation  whatever  to  the 
sounds. 

Moreover,  the  sight  of  the  letters  that  represent  the 
sounds  produces  in  the  mind  the  same  image  that  hear- 
ing the  sounds  causes.  The  written  word  run  becomes 
the  representative  of  the  spoken  word  run,  but  upon 
observing  the  written  word  the  trained  mind  forms  an 
immediate  image  of  the  idea  run,  without,  at  least  con- 
sciously, thinking  of  the  spoken  word  through  which  it 
has  come  to  symbolize  the  idea.  So  we  say  justly  that 
the  written  word  is  the  symbol  of  an  idea,  although  in 
its  origin  it  is  a  step  removed  from  the  idea. 

Spoken  and  Written  Words.  —  This  relation  of  the 
written  symbol  of  an  idea  to  the  spoken  word  that  rep- 
resents the  same  idea  is  comparatively  modern.  The 
spoken  word  necessarily  preceded  the  written  word. 
But  the  first  graphic  symbols  employed  had  no  relation 
whatever  to  the  sounds  of  the  spoken  words  that  stood 
for  the  same  ideas.  The  origin  of  the  oral  names  of  ideas 
is  enveloped  in  mystery  and  told  only  in  myth.  The 
first  graphic  symbols  were  pictures,  rough  representa- 
tions of  objects  or  of  actions,  made  with  chisel  or  impro- 
vised brush;  and  the  earliest  typical  characters  having 
a  general  significance,  such  as  the  cuneiform,  were 
merely  conventionalized  pictures  and  bore  no  relation 
to  the  sound  of  the  word  as  spoken. 

The  earliest  alphabet,  on  the  other  hand,  was  an  at- 


Reading  1 7 

tempt  to  represent  graphically  the  uttered  sounds  and 
so  to  bring  into  harmony  the  oral  representations  of 
ideas  and  their  written  symbols. 

The  Alphabet.  —  Naturally,  in  order  to  make  an 
alphabet,  a  Hst  of  arbitrary  characters  which  should 
represent  the  sound  elements  of  words,  it  was  necessary 
first  to  analyze  the  spoken  word  into  its  sounds.  For 
not  only  did  the  spoken  word  precede  the  written  word, 
it  preceded  any  conscious  consideration  of  its  sound 
elements.  To  the  makers  of  the  first  alphabet  the  word 
existed  already  made  and  the  first  step  was  the  analysis 
of  its  sounds.  Characters  were  invented  to  represent 
these  and  then  names  were  given  to  these  characters. 
Then  characters  were  put  together  in  the  order  in  which 
they  were  sounded  in  the  spoken  word,  to  make  the 
written  word. 

I  have  treated  this  phase  of  the  subject  so  fully,  not 
for  the  sake  of  elaborating  upon  the  obvious,  but,  if 
possible,  to  throw  a  httle  Hght  upon  the  various  methods 
of  introducing  children  to  the  greatest  of  the  arts,  ad- 
vocated, often  with  so  much  warmth,  as  nostrums  or 
panaceas. 

Learning  to  Read.  —  Learning  to  read,  then,  is  learn- 
ing to  translate  the  symbols  found  upon  the  printed 
page  into  images  representing  ideas.  To  the  ready 
reader  the  sight  of  the  printed  word  gives  the  idea ;  this 
step  is  immediate,  the  spoken  word  not  entering  into 
the  process.  The  beginner  may  make  the  step  either 
directly,  or  with  the  assistance  of  the  spoken  word 
(either  heard  or  imaged),  according  to  the  quality  of  his 
mind  and  sometimes  according  to  the  method  by  which 
he  is  taught. 


1 8  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

The  notably  ear-minded  child,  in  most  cases,  will  prob- 
ably image  the  sound,  and  the  sound  heard  will  usually 
aid  his  visualization  of  the  word;  while  the  markedly  eye- 
minded  child  will  go  more  readily  from  the  symbol  to  the 
idea  directly,  and  the  introduction  of  the  sound  element 
at  an  early  stage  is  to  him  confusing  rather  than  help>- 
ful.  Necessarily,  stress  put  upon  "  phonics  "  or  upon 
"  thought  "  by  the  teacher  at  the  outset  of  a  child's 
reading  career  will  affect  his  method  of  grasping  the 
thought  from  the  s3^mbol. 

Analysis  and  Synthesis.  —  Whatever  the  method  of 
first  initiating  a  child  into  the  mysteries  of  reading,  sooner 
or  later  he  must  master  the  entire  process  and  all  the 
relations.  He  must  be  able  to  transmute  sight  into 
sound ;  upon  seeing  the  symbol  he  must  in  imagination 
hear  the  word  spoken  and  he  must  be  able  to  dissolve  it 
into  its  sonant  elements.  Again,  he  must  be  able  at  the 
sight  of  letters,  standing  for  known  sonant  elements,  to 
unite  in  imagination  these  known  elements  in  new  rela- 
tions forming  other  words.  That  is,  from  an  analysis 
of  run  he  must  get  the  sounds  r-u-n  as  represented  by 
the  letters  r,  u,  and  n,  and  from  this  knowledge  he  must 
be  able  to  read  at  sight  u-r-n,  urn.  And  always  finally 
he  must  be  able  to  pass  at  sight  from  the  symbol  to  the 
idea  without  the  mediation  of  the  imaged  sound. 

This  elaborate  analysis,  however,  need  not  be  intro- 
duced at  the  beginning  of  a  child's  learning  to  read. 
Indeed,  its  very  complexity  is  one  of  the  arguments 
against  such  early  introduction.  This  will  be  more  fully 
discussed  later  under  the  head  of  method. 

One  other  phase  of  this  subject  needs  elucidation  at 
this  point. 


Reading  19 

The  Eye-minded  and  the  Ear-minded.  —  The  late 
Dr.  William  T.  Harris,  that  profound  educational  logi- 
cian, used  to  say  that,  in  learning  to  read,  a  child  from 
being  ear-minded  becomes  eye-minded.  I  cannot  but 
think  that  is  an  extreme  statement.  A  child  before  he 
learns  to  read  is  by  no  means  solely,  nor  even  chiefly, 
an  ear-minded  being.  Nor  is  the  only  effect  of  learning 
to  read  an  increase  of  eye-mindedness.  The  eye  feeds 
the  mind  of  a  normal  cliild  from  early  infancy  beyond 
all  possible  calculation.  Moreover,  learning  to  read, 
while  it  opens  a  whole  new  field  to  the  mind  through  the 
eye,  at  the  same  time  greatly  enlarges  the  ear's  contri- 
bution to  the  mental  content. 

The  constant  overlapping  of  the  senses,  the  borrowing 
by  one  sense  from  another,  by  which  all  are  enriched 
through  common  contributions,  is  exceedingly  in- 
fluential here.  The  sight,  while  itself  gaining  new  power, 
also  stimulates  and  enriches  the  hearing.  The  constant 
necessary  interchange  by  the  tv/o  senses  in  the  process 
of  reading  brings  to  each  a  gift  from  the  other. 

So  while  Homer's  contemporaries  heard  Homer's 
poems,  we,  reading  them,  by  tliis  transfer  of  intelligence 
enjoy  a  sim^ilar  pleasure,  because  the  written  word  carries 
us  back  to  its  source,  the  spoken  word,  and  in  mind  we 
hear  the  *'  sounding  sea  "  and  "  the  twang  of  the  silver 
bow."  Indeed,  without  this  subconscious  influence  of 
hearing  upon  sight,  rhythm  and  rhyme  would  have  no 
meaning  to  the  silent  reader.  Poe's  "  Bells  ^'  would  be 
silly  and  all  poetry  would  be  absurd,  except  when 
read  aloud. 

Dr.  Harris  doubtless  had  in  mind  the  field  of  language. 
Before  learning  to  read  a  child  is  ear-minded  as  to  words. 


20  What  Children  Study  and  Why- 

He  knows  them  only  as  he  hears  them.  After  learning 
to  read  he  knows  them  also  as  he  sees  them.  But  his 
ear-mindedness  is  no*  thereby  diminished,  or  should  not 
be.  Eye-mindedness  is  added  to  it,  not  substituted  for 
it.  And  as  the  world's  valuable  treasures  of  knowledge 
are  locked  up  in  books  and  open  to  the  eye  alone,  this  is 
the  addition  of  a  whole  world. 

3.    THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF   TASTE 

The  Thought  Element  in  Reading.  —  Obviously  the 
primary  purpose  of  the  reading  lesson  is  to  teach  the  child 
to  get  the  thought  from  the  printed  page,  and  all  other 
elements,  as  the  study  of  sounds  or  the  names  of  letters, 
that  enter  into  the  instruction  are  at  most  but  acces- 
sories and  aids  to  the  single  purpose  of  the  lesson.  And 
they  may  be  ignored  for  the  present,  while  we  consider 
a  more  important  element. 

Since  reading  is  thinking  the  thoughts  expressed  by 
the  symbols,  even  in  the  very  earliest  beginnings  of 
learning  the  art,  it  stands  to  reason  that  the  thought 
to  be  read  should  be  worth  the  child's  thinking.  I  do 
not  need  to  say  that  to  think  unworthy  or  idle  thoughts 
is  degrading,  and  that  when  this  is  done  under  strong 
impulse,  as  in  learning  to  read,  with  the  mind  intensely 
active  and  working  at  its  best,  the  efifect  is  thoroughly 
bad,  and  the  habitual  attitude  of  mind  toward  the  act 
of  reading  thus  produced  is  unfortunate. 

Of  course,  school  readers  do  not  contain  evil  thoughts, 
but  many  of  them  do  contain  silly,  idle  thoughts  of  no 
value  to  the  children.  This  is  particularly  true  of  many 
of  the  "  primers  "  and  "  first  readers"  in  common  use, 
and  especially,  and  almost  of  necessity,  of  those  made  to 


Reading  21 

exploit  some  favorite  "  method."  The  much-derided 
"  See  the  ox  go  up  "  primer  has  given  place  to  the 
primer  of  "  I  see  an  ox." 

If  every  reading  lesson  is  to  be  a  thought  lesson,  every- 
thing read  should  of  course  contain  worthy  thought.  It 
is  not  necessary  to  fill  primers  with  history  or  geography 
or  philosophy,  but  they  should  contain  statements  that 
mean  something  to  the  children  and  something  worth 
while,  —  facts  or  fancies  that  belong  to  their  world,  — 
and  they  should  contain  nothing  else.  There  is  abun- 
dance of  available  material  in  the  natural  activities  of 
children  and  in  the  dehghtful  field  of  children's  lore  to 
equip  any  primer  builder.  Reading  books,  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest,  should  satisfy  the  two  main  desires 
behind  all  voluntary  reading,  getting  information  and 
finding  enjoyment  and  inspiration.  The  latter  is  really 
of  more  importance  than  the  former.  The  habit  of 
reading  for  information  is  much  more  likely  to  be  stim- 
ulated out  of  school  than  that  of  reading  for  pleasure, 
especially  elevated  and  elevating  pleasure.  Children 
should  come  to  look  upon  a  book  as  a  treasure  house,  to 
be  approached  with  glad  anticipation.  This  mental 
attitude  can  be  cultivated  only  by  presenting  books  that 
both  gratify  and  develop  literary  taste. 

The  school  reading  book  gives  to  the  majority  of 
children  their  only  introduction  to  genuine  literature. 
Literary  taste,  ability  to  enjoy  the  best  in  this  treasure 
house,  if  not  cultivated  through  the  reading  lesson,  will 
never  be  cultivated.  Hence  it  is  little  less  than  criminal 
to  waste  this  precious  opportunity  on  any  material  but 
the  best  that  the  children  can  appreciate. 

If  the  children  of  a  school  are  found  to  be  reading 


22  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

"  Battered  Bill,  the  Bloody  Broncho-Buster,"  or  "  The 
Poisoned  Gum  Drop,  or  the  Candy  Woman's  Revenge," 
it  is  an  indication  that  the  teaching  of  reading  has  not 
filled  its  full  measure  of  possibility;  a  taste  for  better 
literature  has  not  been  developed.  The  reading  matter 
may  have  been  merely  combinations  of  words  to  illustrate 
a  "  method."  It  may  have  been  serious  Hterature 
beyond  the  present  capacity  of  the  children,  or  it  may 
have  been  fragmentary  and  dissociated  excerpts  from 
good  Hterature,  insufi&cient  to  create  a  standard  or  to 
develop  a  desire  to  read  more  of  like  character.  Even 
if  the  bocks  contain  good  selections  in  the  form  of 
literary  wholes,  they  may  have  been  treated  merely  as 
reading  lessons  to  the  exclusion  of  their  higher  ends, 
—  for  all  these  are  causes  of  lack  of  love  for  good  Htera- 
ture. 

The  Reading  Lesson  a  Study  of  Literature.  —  The 
reading  lesson  especially,  of  all  the  lessons  in  the  day's 
program,  should  be  not  a  task  but  a  pleasure.  It  should 
always  be  reading  Hterature  to  get  at  the  thought  and  the 
spirit  of  what  is  read,  —  in  maimer  as  nearly  Hke  reading 
out  of  school  as  possible,  only  more  thorough  and  more 
appreciative.  It  should  always  be  a  careful  and  sym- 
pathetic study  of  the  selection.  Moreover,  the  children 
while  being  introduced  to  the  delights  of  the  author 
whose  production  is  read  should  be  tempted  by  suggestion 
to  read  more  from  the  same  author  at  home.  The  teacher 
of  reading  should  be  in  close  alHance  with  the  pubHc 
library,  if  such  an  institution  exists.  The  estabHshment 
of  Hbraries  in  schools  is  fortunately  a  rapidly  growing 
custom.  Such  a  Hbrary  of  well-selected  books  of  general 
Hterature,  adapted  to  the  needs  and  capacities  of  chil- 


Reading  23 

dren,  makes  possible  the  development  of  the  reading 
lesson  into  a  literary  feast. 

Reading  Poetry.  —  It  is  especially  important  that 
poetry  be  carefully,  persistently,  and  sympathetically 
read  and  studied  in  school.  Teachers  sometimes  skip 
the  poetic  selections  in  the  reading  book  because  either 
they  or  the  children  "  do  not  Kke  poetry."  Poetry  is 
the  highest  form  of  literature,  and  for  that  reason  is 
"  caviare  to  the  vulgar."  More  than  any  other  form 
it  needs  to  be  interpreted  to  the  children.  They  need 
to  be  led  to  see  that  poetic  expression  is  not  only 
the  most  beautiful,  but  is  also  the  most  effective  and 
forceful,  of  all  forms  of  Hterary  art.  Much  emphasis 
should  be  laid  upon  the  study  of  figures  of  speech, 
of  rhyme  and  rhythm.  The  teacher,  if  a  good  reader 
(and  the  teacher  should  always  be  a  good  reader), 
should  read  aloud  to  the  school  choice  poetry,  that  the 
children  may  catch  from  the  modulated  voice  that  unde- 
finable,  subtle  musical  quality  which  is  the  spirit  of  true 
poetry. 

The  Mechanics  of  Reading  Necessary.  —  Of  course  the 
elemental  object  of  teaching  reading  must  not  be  lost  sight 
of.  The  children  are,  first  of  all,  to  learn  to  read,  to 
acquire  power  in  the  interpretation  of  the  printed  symbols 
of  thought.  Especially  in  the  lower  grades,  the  mechanics 
of  the  subject,  the  recognition  of  words  and  the  art  of 
naming  new  words  by  analyzing  them  into  their  sonant 
elements,  must  be  rigorously  taught,  to  make  possible 
the  study  of  the  Hterature  read.  But  the  two  processes 
should  go  on  side  by  side.  They  are  reciprocal.  If  the 
literature  read  appeals  to  the  children,  they  are  easily 
induced  to  perform  the  mechanical  drudgery  necessary 


24  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

to  its  mastery.  If  it  does  not  appeal  to  them,  their  learn- 
ing to  read  becomes  an  arduous  task  and  they  look  else- 
where for  their  pleasurable  reading. 

Reading  in  Higher  Grades.  —  In  most  schools  reading 
is  taught  throughout  the  primary  grades  rigorously,  even 
if  not  wisely,  but  too  often  in  the  higher  grades  it  is 
neglected.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  find  daily  programs  in 
grammar  schools  with  no  place  for  reading.  Here  is 
obviously  the  very  best  place  for  developing  taste,  be- 
cause the  children  are  more  mature  and  better  capable  of 
appreciating  good  Hterature.  Here,  especially,  the  read- 
ing should  be  of  literary  wholes,  unmodified  by  the  over 
anxious  editor.  The  grammar  school  pupil  does  not 
need  to  have  his  mental  food  predigested. 

Grading  Reading.  —  The  principle  of  grading  employed 
in  making  too  many  readers  is  wrong.  Readers  above 
the  second  or  third  should  be  graded  according  to  thought 
rather  than  words.  If  the  subject  matter  is  comprehen- 
sible and  interesting  to  the  children,  they  will  master  the 
words  even  if  they  are  "  hard,"  But  easy  words  do  not 
make  easy  reading  of  selections  whose  thought  is  beyond 
the  children. 

This  points  to  two  opposing  errors  found  in  some  pres- 
ent-day reading  books.  In  those  of  one  kind,  good  litera- 
ture is  "written  down"  to  the  capacities  of  the  unhappy 
children.  I  have  even  known  such  delightful  and  childlike 
selections  as  Irving's  "  Rip  Van  Winkle  "  and  "  Legend 
of  Sleepy  Hollow  "  to  be  made  over  for  the  children. 
This  is  little  less  than  literary  murder ;  nor  is  it  necessary, 
for  the  reason  given  above.  The  other  error  is  in  giving 
profound  writings  to  children  because  the  words  are 
simple.     Gray's  "  Elegy  in  a  Country  Churchyard  "  I 


Reading  25 

have  seen  in  a  reader  for  intermediate  grades,  where  it 
is  manifestly  out  of  place.  The  whole  thought  and  spirit 
of  the  poem  require  mature  minds  for  their  appreciation. 
The  elegy,  from  its  very  nature,  is  unfit  for  young 
children,  and  Gray's  is  no  exception.  One  might  as  well 
give  them  "  In  Memoriam,"  "  Lycidas,"  or  "  Adonais." 
The  study  that  is  put  upon  such  selections  by  the  very 
young  simply  spoils  them  for  later  enjoyment,  and  drives 
the  pupils  to  the  Nickel  Horror.  On  the  other  hand, 
many  of  Shakespeare's  plays  make  admirable  reading 
matter  for  the  grammar  school.  The  vital  interest  in  the 
story  and  the  dramatic  action  carry  the  pupils  over  the 
difficulties  of  the  vocabulary. 

The  principle  is  plain.  Give  children  the  very  choicest 
literature  that  they  can  appreciate  and  enjoy,  but  don't 
force  them,  and  above  all  don't  spoil  choice  literature 
by  making  it  over  for  reading  lessons  ahead  of  its  turn. 
Wait  till  the  children  are  ready  for  it  as  the  author 
made  it. 

The  worst  instance  of  this  sort  of  desecration  is  re- 
writing in  simple  prose  the  story  of  a  choice  poem. 
The  story  is  but  one  element  of  the  poem  and  usually  is 
the  least  important,  except  as  a  skeleton.  But  it  is 
necessary  to  the  poem  as  a  whole.  There  are  good  stories 
enough  for  children  of  all  grades,  written  in  suitable 
language,  without  filching  the  hearts  out  of  choice  poems. 
Even  great  authors  cannot  write  over  great  poems  suc- 
cessfully. Though  children  in  the  grammar  grades  love 
to  read  Shakespeare,  as  a  rule  they  do  not  care  for  Lamb's 
"  Tales  from  Shakespeare." 

Give  children  an  abundance  of  good  literature  as  it 
came  from  the  pens  of  genius,  in  wholes  and  unspoiled. 


26  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

4.    READING   ALOUD 

The  third  of  the  functions  of  the  reading  lesson  is  to 
give  the  ability  to  read  aloud  to  the  edification  and  en- 
joyment of  listeners,  to  reproduce  orally,  with  exact- 
ness in  word  and  in  spirit,  the  thought  expressed  on  the 
page. 

In  the  school  reading  lesson,  especially  in  the  earher 
years,  reading  aloud  is  a  necessary  part  of  the  exercise, 
the  proof  that  the  pupil  can  read.  In  later  years  it  is  a 
fine  art  too  often  ignored. 

The  Nature  of  Reading  Aloud.  —  Reading,  it  will  be 
recalled,  is  getting  the  thought  from  the  symbol,  either 
immediately  upon  observation,  or  mediately  through 
imaging  the  sounds  of  the  spoken  word.  Reading  aloud 
is  going  a  step  farther  and  uttering  the  words  after  the 
thought  has  been  grasped.  The  distinction  needs  to  be 
made  between  merely  calling  the  words  phonically  and 
reading  them.  To  utter  the  sounds  r-u-n  in  quick  suc- 
cession as  the  word  run  while  thinking  merely  of  the 
sonant  elements  is  not  to  read  run.  Reading  involves 
conceiving  the  idea  run,  and  oral  reading  means  speaking 
the  word  run  as  expressive  of  the  idea.  This  is  important 
as  having  a  distinct  bearing  upon  the  method  of  teaching 
the  art,  as  will  be  evident  later. 

Elements  of  Oral  Reading.  —  Oral  reading  involves,  on 
its  mechanical  side,  breathing,  vocalization,  enunciation, 
and  pronunciation.  In  the  primary  classes  breathing 
and  vocalization  may  be  taken  for  granted.  Correct 
breathing  and  the  production  of  pure  tones  are  of  course 
important,  but  there  is  little  time  for  their  consideration 
in  the  ordinary  primary  school.    As  a  rule,   too,  the 


Reading  27 

breathing  and  the  voices  of  children  are  more  natural 
and  hence  better  than  those  of  adults. 

Enunciation  and  Pronunciation.  —  But  enunciation 
and  pronunciation  must  receive  stress  from  the  first. 
By  good  enunciation  Is  meant  the  distinct  utterance  of 
the  various  vowel  and  consonant  sounds  involved  in 
speaking  a  word.  By  good  pronunciation  is  meant  the 
utterance  of  the  word  as  a  whole  correctly,  with  proper 
accent,  as  determined  by  standard  authorities.  To 
"  slur  "  letters,  to  give  incorrect  or  indistinct  sounds 
to  letters,  to  run  them  together,  —  to  say  hein'  for  being; 
or  pW^aps  for  perhaps;  gentlemun  for  gentleman;  New 
Yaivk  for  New  York;  woild  for  world;  histry  for  history; 
jogerphy  for  geography,  —  these  are  common  instances 
of  bad  enunciation. 

"  WatchuthinknoJ?  "  looks  Slavic,  but  it  is  quite  com- 
mon American. 

To  say  Euro'pean  for  Europe' an,  haow  for  how,  noo  for 
new,  threw  for  through,  colyum  for  column,  hor'izon  for 
horiz'on,  interested  for  in'teresled,  is  to  pronounce  in- 
correctly. 

These  two  classes  of  errors  are  sure  to  show  their  heads 
continually  in  school,  and  must  be  hit  whenever  they 
appear;  but  the  reading  lesson  affords  the  best  op- 
portunity for  dealing  with  them  systematically.  They 
arise  from  various  causes,  chief  among  which  is  habit 
acquired  In  the  home  and  on  the  street. 

Faulty  enunciation  Is  often  due  to  some  defect  of  the 
vocal  organs,  and  faulty  pronunciation  to  Ignorance  pure 
and  simple.  To  correct  these  errors  should  be  a  princi- 
pal object  of  the  reading  lesson,  because  they  are  serious 
defects,  not  merely  in  reading,  but  in  all  utterance,  and 


28  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

are  likely  materially  to  affect  future  success  among  men. 
The  world  over,  the  method  of  utterance  is  one  of  the 
accepted  standards  of  cultivation. 

Correcting  Faulty  Enunciation.  —  How  may  faults  of 
enunciation  be  removed?  In  most  cases,  only  by  per- 
sistent efforts  to  secure  correct  utterance,  and  the  sub- 
stitution of  good  habits  for  bad.  In  case  of  physical 
defects  the  assistance  of  a  surgeon  may  be  required, 
though  often  a  simple  course  of  exercises  will  furnish  all 
the  remedy  needed.  Stuttering,  for  example,  is  usually 
due  to  a  diseased  or  overstimulated  nervous  system,  and 
except  in  extreme  cases  can  be  helped  or  even  cured  by 
enforced  deliberation  of  utterance,  regularly  persisted  in. 
Difficulty  in  uttering  distinctly  particular  letters,  as  s 
or  /,  can  usually  be  overcome  by  steady,  deliberate  practice 
in  uttering  them.  Some  instruction  at  first  may  be 
needed  as  to  the  proper  disposition  of  tongue,  teeth,  or 
lips  to  produce  the  correct  sound. 

Of  the  bad  habits,  the  most  common,  and  the  most 
disastrous  as  well,  is  that  of  slurring  letters,  both  vowels 
and  consonants.  Few  adults,  even  of  liberal  education, 
utter  their  words  clearly,  through  to  the  finish.  We  have 
no  time  to  enounce.  We  telegraph  our  message,  omitting 
every  sound  not  absolutely  required  to  give  its  meaning. 
Such  exercises  as  reading  or  reciting  words,  verses,  or 
sentences  with  great  deliberation  and  with  over  emphasis 
upon  all  sounds  are  helpful.  Drill  upon  the  utterance 
of  such  words  as  in-di-vis-i-hi-li-ty,  giving  the  short 
sound  to  i  in  each  syllable,  is  valuable,  as  is  the  use  of 
the  old  enunciation  puzzles,  as  "  A  big  black  bear  bit  a 
big  black  bug,"  "  Round  the  rugged  rock  the  ragged 
rascal  ran,"  "  Peter  Piper  picked  a  peck  of  pickled  pep- 


Reading  29 

pers,"  with  the  good  old  "  Theophilus  Thistle,  the  cele- 
brated thistle  sifter,  while  sifting  a  sieve  full  of  unsifted 
thistles,  thrust  three  thousand  thistles  through  the  thick 
of  his  thumb,"  repeated  in  various  forms.  The  reading 
or  reciting  of  poems  or  prose  selections  markedly  onomat- 
opoetic  makes  good  drill  in  enunciation ;  for  example,  Poe's 
"  Bells,"  Montgomery's  "  Arnold  von  Winkelried," 
Byron's  "  Destruction  of  Sennacherib,"  Southey's  "  How 
the  Waters  Come  Down  at  Lodore,"  Tennyson's  "The 
Splendor  Falls,"  Dryden's  "  Ode  to  St.  Cecilia,"  Dickens's 
description  of  the  locksmith  in  "  Barnaby  Rudge,"  Chap. 
XLI. 

The  selections  for  practice  should  be  made  with  ref- 
erence to  the  particular  defects  or  habits  to  be  remedied. 
It  is  well  to  begin  with  the  younger  children  by  reading 
to  them  short  selections  that  bring  out  prominently 
certain  sounds  asking  them  to  indicate  those  sounds 
and  to  reproduce  them.  For  the  ear  is  frequently  the 
cause  of  bad  enunciation.  It  does  not  always  distin- 
guish sounds  and  must  be  trained  to  hear  accurately. 

I  recall  an  argument  with  a  lady,  whose  whole  life 
had  been  spent  in  New  York  City,  over  the  sound  of  the 
letter  r.  She  had  the  local  habit  of  slurring  it  or  of 
dropping  it  altogether.  But  she  insisted  that  she  did 
pronounce  it.  Finally  I  discovered  that  apparently  her 
ear  could  not  perceive  the  ordinary  sound  of  r  at  all. 
She  could  not,  for  instance,  distinguish  between  are  and 
ah,  when  spoken.  Only  over  emphasis  and  a  prolonged 
trilling  of  the  sound  enabled  her  to  perceive  it. 

A  distinguished  bishop  tells  of  visiting  an  Enghsh 
laborer's  family  at  dinner  time. 

The  principal  article  of  food  was  some  delicious  York- 


30  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

shire  ham.  The  laborer's  son,  after  consuming  a  gener- 
ous portion,  asked  for  more,  and  this  conversation 
ensued : 

Boy  —  "  Dad,  HTd  like  some  more  'am." 

Father  —  "  You  mean  'am,  my  son." 

Boy  —  "  That's  wot  I  said  :  I  said  'am." 

Father  —  "  No,  you  said,  'aw." 

Mother  (aside  to  Bishop)  —  "  'Ear  'em.  They  both 
think  they  said  'aw." 

Although  a  thoroughly  bad  enunciation  is  perhaps 
seldom  wholly  corrected,  careful  instruction,  much 
practice,  and  never  ceasing  insistence,  especially  in  the 
reading  lesson,  can  accomplish  much. 

Correcting  Faulty  Pronunciation.  —  Faulty  pronuncia- 
tion, especially  if  taken  early,  can  be  remedied  much 
more  easily.  As  has  been  said,  in  many  cases  it  is  due 
to  ignorance.  This  requires  merely  acquaintance  with 
the  correct  standard.  In  other  cases  it  is  habit,  which 
calls  for  attention  and  insistence.  Usually,  too,  faulty 
pronunciation  is  limited  to  a  comparatively  few  words. 

The  greatest  difficulty  is  likely  to  be  provincial  pro- 
nunciation, due  to  customs  prevailing  in  localities  and 
sometimes  in  whole  regions.  Such  are  the  New  England 
yew  for  you,  hev  for  have,  stupenjus  for  stupendous,  goom 
for  gum.  The  Pennsylvania  cddow  for  cow,  md  for  md, 
the  Southern  ah  for  I,  the  Irish  charac'ter. 

The  difficulty  with  this  class  of  errors  is  not  merely 
fixed  habit,  but  inability  to  distinguish  the  sounds  by 
the  ear.  Even  teachers,  working  in  the  locality  where 
they  have  been  brought  up,  cannot  detect  the  famihar 
errors  of  pronunciation  committed  by  the  children,  but 
are  guilty  of  them  themselves.     It  is  only  by  a  careful 


Reading  3 1 

training  of  the  ear  and  a  constant  study  of  standards 
that  errors  of  pronunciation,  either  provincial  or  per- 
sonal, can  be  eradicated.  One  of  the  best  means  of 
correcting  our  own  faults  of  sound-perception  and  of 
sound-production  is  to  listen  closely  to  cultivated  public 
speakers,  and  especially  to  good  actors,  people  whose 
business  it  is  to  be  right  in  these  respects.  In  case  of 
doubt  always  consult  a  dictionary. 

The  two  faults  of  speech  above  mentioned  as  common 
in  oral  reading  are  all  that  can  be  attended  to  profitably 
in  the  earlier  primary  grades  while  the  children  are 
mastering  the  symbols.  But  false  modes  of  breathing 
and  bad  qualities  of  voice  must  be  remedied  before 
reading  aloud  as  an  art  and  as  a  source  of  pleasure  is 
possible. 

These  two  subjects  belong  so  largely  to  the  specialist 
that  I  shall  not  attempt  to  treat  them  at  length,  but 
shall  only  give  a  few  suggestions  as  to  exercises  that  may 
be  employed  in  the  schoolroom  in  connection  with  the 
reading  lesson.  These  can  be  introduced  into  the  inter- 
mediate grades  with  advantage. 

The  breathing  should  be  full  and  deep.  Breathing 
exercises,  filling  the  lungs  to  the  bottom,  just  before  read- 
ing, are  helpful.  To  begin  a  sentence  with  the  lungs 
nearly  empty  necessitates  an  early  break  in  the  reading. 
The  breath  should  be  taken  in  through  the  nostrils. 
Practice  in  deep  breathing  through  the  nose  and  giving 
out  the  breath  very  slowly  through  the  mouth,  clearly 
vocalized,  allowing  no  breath  to  escape  without  produc- 
ing tone,  if  repeated  regularly,  will  greatly  improve  the 
breathing  of  a  class  while  reading. 

The  production  of  good  tone  is  really  easier  to  secure 


32  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

than  good  breathing.  The  common  faults  of  tone  in 
school  reading  are,  among  the  boys,  a  hard  and  un- 
natural tone  and  excessive  nasahty,  and  among  the 
girls,  high  pitch  and  an  ear-splitting,  shrill  quality.  Both 
boys  and  girls  talk,  if  they  do  not  read,  too  loudly  and 
noisily.  This  fault  continued  to  adult  years  and  in- 
tensified has  made  the  "  American  voice  "  justly  an 
object  of  unpleasant  comment. 

How  can  we  get  soft,  tuneful,  clear  voices?  Only 
through  much  practice  and  continued  insistence.  In  the 
first  place  the  teacher's  voice  should  possess  these  quali- 
ties, a  condition,  alas !  seldom  fulfilled.  Children  un- 
consciously imitate.  A  noisy  teacher  makes  a  noisy 
school. 

It  is  essential  to  avoid  shouting  in  all  exercises.  Make 
plain  the  difference  between  force  and  noise.  Practice 
whispering  to  a  distance.  Especially  have  much  read- 
ing and  reciting  of  literature,  calling  for  the  quality  the 
opposite  of  the  one  to  be  corrected,  as,  for  a  harsh  voice, 
lullabies,  such  as  "  Sweet  and  Low,"  "  O,  hush  thee,  my 
Baby " ;  for  a  high-pitched,  shrill  voice,  "  By  Nebo's 
lonely  mountain,"  or  "Not  a  drum  was  heard";  for  a 
nasal  voice,  Byron's  "  Apostrophe  to  the  Ocean,"  "  Roll 
on  thou  deep  and  dark  blue  ocean,  roll,"  or  Carthon's 
"  Apostrophe  to  the  Sun,"  "  O  thou  that  rollest  above, 
round  as  the  shield  of  my  fathers."  In  all  cases  try  to 
have  the  voice  reflect  the  sentiment.  These  are  merely 
suggestive  exercises  for  correcting  glaring  errors  of  vocal- 
ization. 

The  Art  of  Reading  Aloud.  —  The  art  of  reading  aloud, 
now  so  nearly  obsolete,  is  one  of  the  most  generally 
attractive  of  all  the  arts.    It  is  especially  effective  for 


Reading  33 

poetry,  oratory,  fiction,  and  dramatic  writings.  Pure 
literature,  interpreted  by  a  genuine  and  sympathetic 
artist,  shares  with  song,  "Music  married  to  immortal 
verse,"  the  honor  of  being  the  most  human  and  the  most 
divine  of  arts. 

"  And  lend  to  the  rhyme  of  the  poet 
The  beauty  of  thy  voice." 


CHAPTER   III 

Reading 
methods  of  instruction 

It  is  not  the  aim  of  this  book  to  discuss  methods  very 
much  in  detail.  Indeed,  the  term  "  method  "  as  used 
in  teaching  has  fallen  into  a  certain  disrepute,  because 
it  has  been  badly  misused,  and  mere  devices,  which  usu- 
ally should  be  left  to  the  ingenuity  of  the  teachers,  have 
been  heralded  as  "  methods."  In  this  book  the  term 
"methods"  always  means  simply  a  way  of  doing  things, 
based  upon  principles. 

There  is  a  Best  Way.  —  Necessarily  there  is  a  best  way 
of  doing  everything  that  is  to  be  done,  but  not  a  univer- 
sally best  way.  The  best  way  for  me  may  not  be  the 
best  way  for  you,  and  the  best  way  for  me  to-day  or 
with  Johnny  Jones  may  not  be  the  best  way  to-morrow 
or  with  Maggie  Brown. 

Yet  there  are  principles  underlying  all  methods  which 
may  not  be  violated  with  impunity.  Variation  is 
possible  in  the  application,  but  not  in  the  principle. 

The  first  thing  to  consider  in  determining  the  method 
of  teaching  any  subject  is  the  purpose  of  teaching  it,  — 
its  place  in  the  economy  of  education.  That,  settled, 
determines  the  standard  by  which  all  methods  may  be 
measured. 

The  Proper  Bases. — The  next  things  to  consider  are 
the  nature  of  the  subject,  —  its  meaning  and  its  logic,  — 
and  the  laws  of  growth  of  the  minds  of  the  individual 

34 


Methods  of  Instruction  35 

learners,  especially  as  related  to  the  subject  under  con- 
sideration ;    for    an   example,    how   can    the  pupil  best 
attain  the  end  aimed  at  through  the  study  of  language, 
considering  the  nature  of  language  and  his  mental  state 
regarding  it? 

Psychology  or  Logic.  —  Here  we  come  upon  the  old 
question  :  Shall  psychology  or  logic  determine  the  method 
of  teaching  a  subject  ?  Shall  the  nature  of  the  subject 
or  the  nature  of  the  child  be  the  dominant  influence? 
Shall  the  method  of  nature  study,  for  example,  be  for  the 
development  of  the  child's  powers  of  observation,  dis- 
covery, and  reasoning,  or  shall  it  be  for  verifying  the 
classifications  of  science? 

I  once  heard  a  schoolman  say,  while  we  were  watching 
a  class  of  children  studying  beetles,  "  To  begin  the  study 
of  the  beetle  at  the  wrong  end  is  a  pedagogical  crime." 
I  should  say  that  to  try  to  make  the  child  see  the  beetle 
in  any  other  than  the  natural  way  of  seeing  is  a  peda- 
gogical crime.  The  order  of  procedure  is  determined 
by  his  mental  state  and  his  opportunities  for  observation 
and  not  by  the  shape  of  the  bug.  This  principle  applies 
in  all  teaching,  whatever  the  topic.  The  child  must 
learn  as  he  can.  Any  attempt  to  force  or  to  change  the 
processes  of  his  mental  action  results  in  waste  or  disaster. 

Must  vary  with  Age.  —  Naturally,  methods  must  vary 
as  children  advance  in  age  and  in  mental  power. 
"  Nature  study  "  progresses  toward  science,  "  number 
work  "  toward  arithmetic,  and  "  language  study  "  to- 
ward grammar  and  rhetoric.  The  casual  observation 
becomes  orderly,  the  unconsidered  expression  becomes 
definite,  but  solely  because  the  cliild's  mental  state  is 
different.     In  most  cases,  though  not  in  all,  the  methods 


36  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

here  considered  will  be  those  applicable  to  the  beginning 
of  a  particular  study. 

With  this  understanding  of  "  method,"  we  will  proceed 
to  its  application  to  the  subject  of  reading. 

METHODS    OF   TEACHING    READING 

There  are  many  methods  of  teaching  reading  to  begin- 
ners, all  of  which,  however,  fall  into  a  few  classes  deter- 
mined by  the  unit  of  study,  whether  the  letter,  the  sound, 
or  the  sentence. 

The  Alphabetical  Method.  —  The  alphabetical  or 
spelling  method  was  in  universal  use  until  comparatively 
recent  times.  This  is  hardly  worthy  of  being  classed  as 
a  method.  It  is  merely  the  unconsidered  way  in  which 
reading  was  taught  before  scientific  method  had  received 
serious  thought.  Its  unit  was  the  letter  as  named,  and 
as  combined  on  the  printed  page  with  other  letters  into 
words.  The  oral  significance  of  letters  was  scarcely 
even  thought  of.  As  the  first  step  in  learning  to  read, 
the  children  "  learned  their  letters  "  by  name  and  ap- 
pearance. Next  they  learned  simple  combinations  as 
a-b  ah,  b-a  ba,  always  arbitrarily  and  without  conscious 
recognition  of  the  sonant  value  of  the  letters.  It  is 
probable  that  there  was,  at  least  in  some  cases,  a  sub- 
conscious recognition  of  sound  values,  especially  of 
vowels ;  but  if  such  recognition  existed,  it  never  advanced 
into  consciousness.  The  child  never  became  aware  of 
a  synthesis  of  sounds  in  bat  differing  at  all  from  the  names 
be-a-ie.  Yet  though  the  process  was  necessarily  slow 
and  painful,  children  learned  to  read  by  it,  relying  on 
memory  and  sight.  Its  great  defect  was  not  its  awk- 
wardness and  slowness,  but  what  is  still  the  great  defect 


Methods  of  Instruction  37 

of  all  its  direct  and  collateral  descendants,  namely,  that 
reading  in  its  earlier  stages  was  not  reading  at  all,  but 
merely  calling  syllables  and  words. 

Two  Classes  of  Methods.  —  With  the  development 
of  educational  science  in  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  reading  naturally  received  early  attention. 
The  faults  of  the  old  way  were  manifest  to  even  shallow 
observers.  Hence  many  teachers  set  about  devising 
new  methods.  These  efforts  fall  into  one  or  other  of  the 
two  classes  into  which  all  modern  methods  of  teaching 
reading  fall  —  the  one  logical,  the  other  psychological. 
The  former  takes  as  its  unit  the  sound  of  the  letter; 
the  other,  the  whole  word  or  sentence  as  expressing  an 
idea  or  a  thought.  There  are  several  so-called  methods 
for  which  their  authors  claim  great  merit,  in  both  these 
classes.     Some  indeed  claim  the  merits  of  both  classes. 

It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  bear  in  mind  the  funda- 
mental determining  difference,  which  is  the  door  of  ap- 
proach, whether  the  sounds  of  the  letters  or  the  ideas  or 
thoughts  represented  by  the  symbols. 

Phonic  Methods.  —  The  various  phonic  methods,  by 
whatever  special  name  they  are  called,  are  the  direct 
development  of  the  original  alphabetical  method.  The 
sound  of  the  letter  has  taken  the  place  of  the  name, 
and  the  synthesis  of  the  sounds  that  make  the  spoken 
word  has  become  conscious  and  purposeful.  The  aim  is 
simple,  to  secure  the  recognition,  in  the  graphic  symbol, 
of  the  word  already  familiar  as  spoken.  The  method 
is  logical  rather  than  psychological.  That  is,  it  follows 
the  orderly  development  of  the  word  considered  as  a 
mechanical  structure,  and  not  the  laws  of  growth  of  the 
mind  of  the  child  or  his  natural  way  of  learning.  ^ 


38  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

The  earliest  of  these  methods  to  gain  general  recogni- 
tion was  called  correctly  "  the  synthetic  method."  It 
was  more  radical  than  any  of  its  successors.  The  first 
step  was  the  recognition  of  the  sounds  of  the  letters. 
To  secure  this,  much  drill  was  given  upon  single  letters. 
Then  these  were  combined  by  sounds  into  pronounceable 
groups,  which  were  sometimes  words,  sometimes  recogniz- 
able syllables,  and  sometimes  mere  meaningless  aggre- 
gations, usually  representing  "  families,"  as  the  at  family, 
the  op  family,  and  the  Hke.  The  children  were  drilled 
upon  such  lists  as, 

at 

bat 

cat 

dat 

lat 
In  order  to  make  possible  the  study  of  all  the  sounds 
of  the  letters,  an  intjicate  system  of  diacritical  marking 
was  employed,  creating  practically  a  new  alphabet,  in 
which  every  sonant  element  of  English  words  was  sup- 
posed to  be  represented  by  a  character.  Later  these 
phonic  groups,  or  "  phonograms,"  were  used  in  the  build- 
ing of  words,  after  which  children  began  to  read. 

Tliis  was  a  carefully  thought  out  and  logical  system. 
Within  certain  very  manifest  limits  it  produced  notable 
results.  Undeniably  children  acquired  extraordinary 
facility  in  using  the  marked  letters  to  build  the  family  — 
the  combination  of  sounds  —  unhampered  by  any  con- 
sideration of  purpose.  They  worked  for  synthesized 
sounds,  and  they  got  them.  Moreover,  the  facility  ac- 
quired was  of  real  service  in  the  detection  of  new  words 
as  they  occurred  in   the  reading  lesson.     For  a  time 


Methods  of  Instruction  39 

the  apparent  progress  of  the  children  was  truly  aston- 
ishing. 

The  defects  of  the  system,  however,  were  no  less  notable. 
One  of  them  has  already  been  mentioned  as  the  greatest 
defect  of  the  alphabetical  method,  namely,  that  "  read- 
ing "  was,  at  first,  not  reading  at  all,  but  merely  calling 
words,  the  meaningless  repetition  of  synthesized  sounds ; 
and  all  the  evil  characteristics  of  the  old  methods  were 
present,  —  the  hard  voice,  the  uniform  modulation,  the 
pause  between  words,  the  unvarying  stress  upon  all 
words  important  and  unimportant. 

Then,  when  introduced  to  words  without  diacritical 
marks,  the  children  were  somewhat  like  cripples  whose 
crutches  had  been  taken  away.  It  took  time  and  effort 
to  reduce  the  alphabet  to  the  conventional  twenty-six 
letters.  So,  even  in  the  matter  of  time,  the  apparent 
saving  at  the  beginning  was  often  lost  in  the  later  delays 
incident  to  really  learning  to  read.  Moreover,  the  desir- 
able influence  upon  all  the  later  reading  of  the  first  im- 
pression that  reading  is  getting  thought  was,  of  course, 
forever  lost. 

Phonics  and  Spelling.  —  Perhaps  the  most  peculiar 
effect  of  this  phonic  method  was  that  upon  spelling.  It 
seemed  practically  impossible  for  children  accustomed  to 
the  luxury  of  a  complete  phonetic  alphabet  ever  to  adjust 
themselves  to  the  peculiarities  of  English  orthography. 
The  truly  "  phonetized  "  children  continued  to  spell, 
years  after,  in  a  manner  that  would  have  rejoiced  the 
heart  of  the  laird  of  Skibo. 

The  purely  synthetic  method,  though  heralded  as  the 
great  emancipator  from  the  bondage  of  the  primer,  did 
not  long  survive,  but  it   left  a   healthy  family  of   de- 


40  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

scendants  more  or  less  resembling  it,  which  we  still  have 
with  us. 

Later  Phonic  Systems.  —  In  general  these  have  uni- 
form characteristics.  They  are  mainly  analytico-syn- 
thetic.  The  sounds,  instead  of  being  stated  arbitrarily 
as  belonging  to  certain  letters,  are  "  developed  "  from 
words  and  then  recombined :  rat  becomes  r-d-t,  the 
sounds  only  being  given.  The  "  family  "  relation  is 
still  maintained,  but  the  combinations  made  are  strictly 
of  words,  the  meaningless  aggregations  of  sounds  such 
as  dat  and  lat  being  no  longer  allowed. 

This  change  indicates  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  ad- 
vocates of  phonetic  teaching  toward  sounder  educational 
principles.  The  presentation  of  a  whole  word  is  at  least 
a  partial  recognition  of  the  way  a  child  naturally  learns 
things.  It  is  to  be  feared,  however,  that  even  yet  in  too 
many  instances  the  word  is  presented  as  a  combination 
of  sounds  rather  than  as  the  symbol  of  an  idea.  The 
word  rat  does  not  stand  so  much  for  the  interesting,  if 
unpopular,  Httle  rodent  whose  name  it  is,  as  for  the 
synthesis  of  the  three  sounds  represented  by  the  letters 
r-d-t. 

There  are  so  many  further  modifications  of  so-called 
phonic  reading  that  it  is  impossible  to  follow  them. 
Surely  even  Mrs.  Pollard  would  be  imable  to  recognize 
some  of  the  descendants  of  her  scheme.  But  these 
modifications  are  all  in  more  or  less  full  recognition  of  a 
psychological  basis  of  teaching.  Some  go  so  far  as  to 
present  entire  sentences  and  even  whole  verses  for  in- 
spection by  the  children  —  a  sort  of  by-guess  reading  — 
and  to  encourage  the  recognition  of  some  words  as  words 
before  taking  up  the  phonic  analysis.     Every  step  to- 


Methods  of  Instruction  41 

ward  making  "  reading  "  always  reading,  the  getting  of 
thought,  and  using  all  mechanical  devices  merely  as  aids, 
is  encouraging. 

Danger  in  Secondary  Ends.  —  Of  course  it  is  claimed 
that  this  is  the  purpose  of  all  phonic  systems.  Doubtless 
in  the  mind  of  the  teacher  it  is,  but  in  the  mind  of  the 
young  child  the  manifest  aim  is  the  real  aim,  and  untold 
harm  is  done  in  our  schools  by  presenting  continually 
secondary  ends  rather  than  primary.  This  error  is 
common  not  merely  in  the  reading  lesson,  but  in  other 
subjects  as  well,  and  especially  in  creating  motives  for 
study  and  even  for  conduct.  The  eye  of  the  child 
should  whenever  possible  be  kept  upon  the  real  end  in 
view.  This  has  an  immediate  bearing  upon  the  creation 
of  ideals  and  the  development  of  character.  In  many 
instances  it  may  be  impossible  to  do  this ;  the  real  end 
may  be  too  remote  and  abstruse  for  the  child  to  grasp, 
but  usually  it  is  possible  —  certainly  in  many  more  in- 
stances than  our  school  practice  would  indicate.  In 
teaching  reading  it  is  not  only  possible  but  easy.  "  Read- 
ing "  can  as  easily  be  reading  as  the  mere  calling  of  words. 

English  not  Phonetic.  —  Even  with  this  higher  con- 
sideration aside,  there  are  fundamental  linguistic  reasons 
why  "  phonics  "  can  never  be  the  real  basis  of  instruction 
in  reading.  Our  language  is  not  a  phonetic  language. 
Because  of  its  history,  of  the  many  elements  that  have 
entered  into  its  composition,  and  especially  of  the  dis- 
tortions that  it  has  suffered  at  the  hands  of  ignorant  early 
printers  and  of  many  pseudo-philologists,  a  very  large 
part  of  its  syllables  are  purely  arbitrary  combinations 
of  letters  which  must  be  committed  to  memory,  without 
aid  from  logic,  or  science.     So  large  a  part  of  the  words 


42  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

in  common  use  are  thus  irregular  that  attempts  to  form 
scientific  classifications,  instead  of  aiding  the  memory, 
merely  cause  confusion. 

Take,  for  instance,  one  of  the  most  reliable  of  the  rules, 
that  a  final  e,  silent  after  a  single  consonant,  lengthens 
the  short  vowel  preceding  the  consonant.  This  is  usually 
given  to  children  very  early,  as  one  of  the  laws  suitable 
for  infant  minds,  and  it  is  one  of  the  guideposts  to  the 
foreigner  trjdng  to  thread  his  way  among  the  crossroads 
of  our  language.  The  start  is  nimble :  tap,  tape;  rip, 
ripe;  cap,  cape;  and  so  forth.  But  soon  come  tare, 
hare,  hare,  and  p>erhaps  thirty  more.  Well,  we  will 
classify  these  as  an  exception  and  go  on.  We  have  not 
gone  far  when  we  run  upon  dove,  love,  above,  and  a  long 
list  —  another  exception.  And  so  with  halve,  salve,  and 
the  like,  and  then  live,  give,  are,  were,  and  the  rest,  until 
the  exceptional  instances  seem  to  outnumber  the  regulars. 
And  yet,  as  I  have  said,  this  is  one  of  the  most  reliable 
of  the  rules  ;  indeed,  it  is  almost  the  only  one  of  sufficient 
embrace  to  be  of  much  consequence.  From  this  com- 
parative regularity  all  the  way  to  ough  with  its  eight 
different  pronunciations  is  a  road  strewn  with  "  troubles." 
The  diacritical  markings  are  merely  danger  signs,  useful 
so  long  as  they  remain,  but  leaving  panic  when  removed. 

Is  it  not  vastly  better  to  teach  reading  as  reading  and 
get  such  assistance  from  phonics  as  we  can,  than  to 
overwork  this  valuable  aid,  misrepresent  values,  and 
fail  at  least  of  the  higher  results  ? 

Psychological  Methods.  —  Of  the  psychological  meth- 
ods of  teaching  reading  to  beginners  there  are  two 
general  classes,  one  taking  for  its  unit  the  word,  repre- 
senting an  idea,  the  other  taking  the  sentence,  repre- 


Methods  of   Instruction  43 

senting  a  complete  thought.  In  both,  the  meaning  of 
the  word  rather  than  its  phonetic  composition  receives 
the  first  consideration. 

The  Word  Method.  —  The  word  method  in  operation  is 
simplicity  itself.  A  famihar  object  is  presented  before 
the  children  and  named  by  them.  The  name  is  then 
written  on  the  blackboard.  Thus  the  written  and 
visible  symbol  of  the  name  of  a  familiar  object  becomes 
associated  with  the  same  name  as  known  to  the  ear. 
The  child  becomes,  as  to  the  word,  eye-minded.  After 
the  names  of  several  objects  have  been  learned  in  this 
way,  a  few  necessary  connecting  and  descriptive  words, 
as  verbs  and  adjectives,  are  taught.  Thus  the  child 
becomes  possessed  of  a  small  working  vocabulary.  Next, 
sentences  are  constructed  of  these  words  and  read  by  the 
children.  So  far  the  process  is  one  of  simple  word 
memory.  The  words  are  treated  first  as  wholes  by  them- 
selves and  then  as  parts  of  a  sentence.  Here  He  both  the 
strength  and  the  weakness  of  the  method. 

Tests  of  the  Word  Method.  —  The  real  tests  are  two: 
I.  Are  the  pupils  to  go  on  indefinitely  memorizing  new 
words  as  wholes,  Chinese  fashion?  2.  Can  the  words 
treated  thus  independently  be  united  smoothly  into  sen- 
tences, so  that  reading  shall  be  repeating  thoughts  and 
not  merely  calling  words  ? 

Necessity  of  Spelling. — As  to  the  first  test,  naturally 
the  words  must  ultimately  be  broken  up  into  their  sonant 
elements  and  these  elements  must  be  used  in  building 
other  words ;  that  is,  children  must  learn  to  spell  and  to 
recognize  new  words  by  spelling  before  rapid  progress 
can  be  made  in  learning  to  read.  Here  comes  the  claim 
of  the  phonic  teacher.     By  phonics  the  children  learn 


44  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

these  sonant  elements  of  words  and  are  made  independent 
in  reading  new  words.  This  would  be  true  enough  if  our 
language  were  a  phonetically  regular  language,  but  it  is 
not,  as  has  been  stated  above,  and  attempts  to  teach  by 
a  phonetic  system,  when  such  a  system  includes  so  little, 
results  in  artificiality  and  teaching  much  that  "  isn't  so." 
Children  who  learn  to  read  by  the  word  method  must 
early  learn  to  spell.  But  this  spelling  must  be  in  the 
old-fashioned  way  of  memory,  aided  here  and  there  by 
those  few  phonic  facts  that  are  of  general  significance. 
Some  of  these  may  be  taught  by  rule,  though  the  many 
exceptions  are  Hkely  to  make  most  of  the  rules  confusing 
rather  than  illumining.  Most  of  the  phonic  facts  will  be 
grasped  by  the  children  by  a  sort  of  unconscious  generali- 
zation. Colonel  Parker,  who  was  an  advocate  of  the 
word  method,  used  to  insist  that  this  unconscious  generali- 
zation was  sufficient  and  that  the  children  needed  no 
special  drill  in  phonics. 

How  Children  Learn.  —  Of  the  two,  a  purely  phonic 
system  and  a  word  method  with  its  spelling  unaided  by 
formal  phonics,  the  latter  unquestionably  rests  on  a 
sounder  psychological  basis;  it  is  more  nearly  like  the 
way  in  which  children  acquire  their  first  knowledge  of 
the  world  in  many  phases.  The  most  familiar  objects 
are  learneci  first  singly  by  memory  alone.  Then  the 
mind  unaided  forms  a  simple  generalization.  Acquaint- 
ance is  first  made  with  Towser,  the  family  dog.  Then 
every  dog  is  Towser.  Later  Towser  and  all  the  rest 
become  dogs.  But  the  generalization  was  first  made  un- 
aided and  unconsciously,  when  the  neighbor's  dog  was 
called  Towser. 

Whatever  may  be  its  other  faults  or  merits,  the  word 


Methods  of  Instruction  45 

method  at  least  employs  the  same  unit  and  order  that 
the  child  uses  in  learning  to  talk.  The  baby  first  recog- 
nizes objects  through  their  action  upon  some  one  or 
more  of  the  senses.  Then  he  learns  to  associate  with 
these  sensations  certain  regular  impressions  made  upon 
his  auditory  nerve,  until  at  length  he  knows  the  word 
heard  as  belonging  to  the  object.  Later,  after  much 
effort,  he  learns  to  utter  the  word  himself,  and  this  with- 
out any  conscious  analysis  of  it  into  its  sonant  elements, 
without  any  instruction  as  to  the  character  and  mode 
of  action  of  his  vocal  organs. 

Word  Method  Natural.  —  This  method,  using  the 
whole  word  as  the  unit  of  instruction,  is  the  purely 
natural  method ;  most  other  methods,  called  natural, 
are  really  artificial  attempts  to  substitute  the  laws  of 
logic  for  those  of  infant  development. 

Place  of  Analysis.  —  The  word  method,  however,  may 
be  greatly  aided  by  an  analysis  of  the  words,  after  a  suffi- 
cient vocabulary  has  been  acquired,  and  reading  has  so 
far  advanced,  as  reading,  that  the  children  may  with 
profit  turn  aside  to  consider  analytically  the  material 
■^sith  which  they  are  dealing.  There  should  be  much 
spelling  of  words,  both  oral  and  written,  both  by  letters 
and  by  sounds.  Words,  too,  should  be  grouped  for  spell- 
ing according  to  their  phonic  elements,  as  bar,  car,  far, 
mar,  to  be  followed  by  bare,  care,  fare,  mare  —  but  this 
without  the  formal  rule  which  requires  an  explanation 
of  the  troublesome  exceptions.  All  that  is  valuable  in  the 
analogies  will  be  grasped  unconsciously  through  the  as- 
sociation. 

Other  useful  exercises  are  writing  and  observing  words 
first  with  and  then  without  suffixes  and  plural  forms,  as 


4-6  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

bird,  birds,  think,  thinking,  and  especially  words  divided 
into  syllables.  Uncertainty  as  to  syllabication  is 
perhaps  the  greatest  danger  from  the  word  method,  and 
needs  to  be  carefully  guarded  against  both  in  enunciation 
and  in  writing.  Rules,  however,  for  all  of  these  facts 
may  well  be  left  for  the  language  lesson.  Indeed,  they 
are  of  much  greater  consequence  in  the  complementary 
art  of  writing  than  in  reading  itself. 

Marking  Silent  Letters.  —  There  is  one  so-called  aid  to 
reading  that  is  especially  vicious.  I  refer  to  the  writing  or 
printing  of  words  with  the  "  silent  letters  "  crossed  out. 
Such  a  device  may  be  resorted  to  by  the  teacher,  occa- 
sionally, when  writing  on  the  blackboard,  merely  to  save 
time.  But  the  presentation  to  children,  in  the  first 
stages  of  learning  to  read,  of  a  printed  page  containing 
words  having  some  of  the  letters  crossed  off  gives  false 
impressions  of  the  looks  of  the  words  at  the  outset  and 
prepares  the  way  for  future  trouble.  Because,  whatever 
may  be  the  value  of  "  phonics  "  as  an  aid  to  reading, 
reading  itself,  as  practiced,  consists  in  instant  and  rapid 
recognition  of  words  as  wholes,  and  it  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  that  children  get  correct  impressions  of  words 
as  they  look  on  the  page.  The  sole  value  of  phonic  analysis 
at  its  best  is  in  aiding  children  to  call  correctly  new  words; 
but  when  this  aid  perverts  the  appearance  of  the  word, 
it  becomes  a  hindrance  to  ready  reading. 

The  Sentence  Method.  —  A  third  class  of  methods  for 
teaching  beginners  to  read  is  based  upon  using  as  the 
unit  the  sentence,  representing  a  complete  thought. 
This  is  like  the  word  method  in  that  it  is  pyschological 
rather  than  logical.  It  dififers  from  it  in  treating  the 
child  as  having  advanced  beyond  the  stage  where  knowl- 


Methods  of  Instruction  47 

edge  comes  in  single  unconnected  words  to  that  where 
he  both  comprehends  and  uses  the  complete  sentence  — 
the  statement,  the  question,  the  command.  The  step 
from  doll,  milk  to  "  This  is  my  doll,"  "  Give  me  some 
milk,"  is  psychologically  a  very  long  one,  but  it  is  taken 
long  before  the  child  comes  to  school. 

The  sentence  method  recognizes  this  fact  and  presents 
to  the  children  as  the  first  reading  lesson  a  complete 
expression  of  a  thought.  The  thought  is  naturally  a  very 
simple  one  and  the  sentences  at  first  are  very  short.  But 
they  are  sentences,  and  the  first  reading  of  them  is  genuine 
reading  and  not  merely  calling  words.  Whether  the  first 
lesson  is  "  This  is  Helen  "  or  the  command  "  Run," 
speaking  it  as  a  whole  is  reading.  The  very  first  im- 
pression of  the  act  of  reading  is  the  true  one.  There  is 
nothing  to  be  undone  afterward.  The  painful  effort  to 
make  real  words  of  the  synthesized  meaningless  sounds, 
or  to  group  the  words  into  sentences,  is  spared.  This  is 
certainly  a  great  gain. 

Different  Plans.  —  Some  teachers  of  the  sentence 
method  would  use  first  sentences  made  by  the  children 
and  written  upon  the  blackboard,  so  that  the  children 
may  recognize  the  symbols  of  their  own  spoken  thoughts. 
This  plan  is  sure  to  produce  vivid  impressions  and  to  give 
a  vital  interest  to  the  reading  lesson. 

Others  would  have  the  first  lesson  descriptive  of  an  act 
performed  by  or  before  the  children,  as  I  walk,  we  jump, 
or  of  a  command  to  do  something,  as  Rim,  Jump,  Open 
the  door.  This  also  makes  reading  vital  and  insures 
interest.  It  makes  it  possible,  moreover,  to  make  the 
first  sentence  very  short ;  even  one  word  will  suffice  for 
a  command. 


48  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

Of  course  these  first  sentences  must  be  followed  by 
many  more  in  which  the  same  words  are  used  in  many 
different  relations.  Some  teachers  would  develop  the 
words  first.  This  is  almost  a  reversion  to  the  word 
method.  Others  would  merely  see  to  it  that  the  words 
are  recognized  wherever  they  occur.  These  are  matters 
of  detail. 

The  reading  of  sentences  must  be  followed,  however, 
later  by  the  study  of  words  and  the  various  spelling  and 
phonic  exercises  suggested  to  go  with  the  word  method. 

Sentence  the  Best  Unit.  —  On  the  whole  I  incHne  to 
the  opinion  that  the  sentence  is  the  best  unit  in  teaching 
reading;  that  it  makes  reading  more  natural  and  more 
interesting;  that  children  taught  in  this  way  are  more 
likely  later  to  grasp  whole  phrases  and  sentences  at  a 
glance,  which  is  the  secret  of  economical  and  appre- 
ciative reading. 

Use  of  Larger  Units.  —  Indeed,  some  radical  teachers 
favor  presenting  first  entire  paragraphs  or  rhymes  for 
indefinite  recognition,  that  the  impression  of  wholeness 
may  be  made  very  strong.  While  a  very  able  teacher 
may  succeed  with  such  a  method,  it  is  to  be  feared  that 
in  the  ordinary  school  it  would  result  in  vague,  unprofit- 
able guessing  at  words. 

Special  Methods.  —  There  are  certain  patent  methods 
of  teaching  reading  which  cannot  easily  be  classed  as 
either  psychological  or  philological.  They  belong  by 
themselves  and  had  best  perhaps  be  called  unpsychologi- 
cal.  One  consists  in  taking  some  selections  of  children's 
literature,  chopping  them  up  into  words,  presenting 
these  words  in  new  relations,  often  without  sense,  with 
the  hope  that  thus  the  children  will  learn  them  and  ulti- 


Methods  of  Instruction  49 

mately  will  come  back  to  the  literature.  Sometimes 
a  single  word  taken  from  a  children's  jingle  is  used  in 
forty  or  fifty  consecutive  sentences,  most  of  them  having 
the  slightest  meaning. 

This  system  has  for  its  advocates  many  unthinking 
people  to  whom  the  word  "  literary  "  bears  a  charmed 
meaning,  and  they  think  that  they  are  teaching  by  a 
literary  method  if  they  use  this.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  method  might  be  properly  called  an  anti-literary 
method.  The  child  who  has  had  these  fifty  sentences, 
all  with  one  key  word,  when  he  comes  back  to  the  original 
story  is  sure  to  be  affected  with  nausea.  It  is  hard  to 
conceive  a  method  of  teaching  reading  more  sure  to 
produce  distaste  for  the  whole  subject  than  this.  To 
make  matters  worse,  this  and  some  other  special  methods 
are  so  unnatural  that  they  require  special  manuals,  thus 
adding  greatly  to  the  burden  of  overworked  teachers. 

Teaching  reading  is  not  such  a  difficult  matter  that 
it  requires  all  this  fuss.  In  most  cases  the  special  method 
is  teaching  reading  by  indirection,  by  something  that  is 
not  reading.  Its  advocates  point  to  marvelous  results, 
but  it  should  be  remembered  that  children,  like  animals, 
can  be  taught  any  trick,  if  care  enough  is  given  to  it. 
But  to  teach  a  number  of  things  only  loosely  associated 
with  reading  does  not  necessarily  lead  to  reading  at  all; 
quite  frequently  it  leads  away  from  it.  The  test  comes 
in  the  higher  grades,  and  after  many  years  of  observation. 
I  have  never  seen  pupils  in  the  higher  grades  of  schools 
who  have  been  taught  by  any  patent  method  whose 
reading  was  superior  to  that  of  those  who  had  been 
taught  by  simple  and  natural  methods,  and  in  most 
cases  I  have  found  it  to  be  inferior,  in  spite  of  all  the 


50  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

extra  time  and  effort  and  the  agony  of  teacher  and  child 
in  mastering  an  awkward  scheme. 

Whatever  the  method,  the  first  reading  should  always 
be  of  words  familiar  to  the  children.  The  earliest  lesson 
should  not  attempt  to  add  to  the  pupil's  vocabulary; 
that  comes  later. 

So  much  for  method  in  the  first  lessons  in  reading. 
Is  nothing  to  be  said  as  to  the  conduct  of  the  reading 
lesson  beyond  the  primer  and  first  reader  stage  ? 

Reading  in  Intermediate  Grades.  —  The  intermediate 
grades  really  offer  very  interesting  problems.  As  a  rule 
they  are  the  weakest  spots  in  our  schools.  The  lower  and 
the  higher  grades  have  received  much  more  thought,  much 
more  scientific  study.  Yet  in  these  intermediate  grades 
the  future  tastes  and  inclinations  of  the  great  majority  of 
the  children  are  determined,  in  so  far  as  the  school  deter- 
mines them.  If  the  ability  to  read  rapidly,  with  compre- 
hension and  with  appreciation,  and  also  with  taste  for  good 
reading,  are  not  secured  in  these  grades,  by  far  the  larger 
part  of  the  children  in  our  schools  will  never  secure  them. 

Rapid  Reading.  —  First,  children  should  learn  to  read 
rapidly,  "  to  themselves."  By  this  I  mean  that  they 
should  be  trained  to  grasp  quickly  the  sense  of  sentences 
and  even  paragraphs  wdthout  dwelling  upon  each  word. 
This  ability  is  of  especial  value  in  reading  newspapers 
and  other  current  reading  matter  of  an  ephemeral 
character,  as  well  as  much  Hterature  of  a  better  sort, 
especially  fiction.  Of  course  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that 
there  are  not  books  that  must  be  read  word  for  word, 
with  the  utmost  care  and  deliberation,  but  such  books 
are  few  and  constitute  a  very  small  percentage  of  the 
reading  of  most  people.     Most  of  what  we  read  perforce 


Methods  of  Instruction  51 

does  not  justify  careful  and  slow  perusal,  and  there  is 
great  waste  in  reading  it  one  word  at  a  time.  One  some- 
times sees  people  of  apparent  intelligence  reading  news- 
papers, the  moving  lips  showing  that  each  word  is  being 
mentally  pronounced.  Such  people  have  not  really 
learned  to  read. 

The  first  essential  to  comprehensive  reading  is  the 
ability  to  pick  quickly  the  saUent  words,  those  that 
hold  the  key  to  the  thought.  This  abihty  can  be  secured 
only  through  much  practice.  A  good  exercise  to  this 
end  is  to  give  the  members  of  a  class  each  a  different 
paragraph  or  brief  passage  and  allow  a  short  fixed  period 
for  reading,  and  then  to  require  them  to  give  the  sub- 
stance of  the  passages  read  in  the  fewest  words  possible. 
If  any  child  has  failed  to  grasp  the  thought,  ask  sugges- 
tive questions  and  let  him  try  again.  Such  an  exercise 
frequently  repeated  tends  to  develop  comprehensive  and 
rapid  reading. 

Naturally  such  a  method  cannot  be  applied  to  poetry 
or  to  the  best  oratory,  nor  indeed  with  equal  profit  to  the 
finest  Kterature  of  any  sort.  A  true  hterary  artist  makes 
every  word  tell,  and  if  the  art  is  applied  to  a  worthy 
subject,  every  word  should  be  carefully  read.  The  reader 
who  attempts  to  "  skip  "  in  reading  Emerson  or  Brown- 
ing or  Temiyson  is  likely  to  lose  the  best  things. 

Reading  with  Appreciation.  —  This  leads  to  the  second 
point  to  be  emphasized  in  reading  in  the  higher  grades, 
namely,  reading  with  appreciation.  This  is  a  very  dif- 
ferent process  from  the  hasty  reading  of  the  daily  news 
or  the  best  selling  novel.  It  involves  a  sympathetic 
spirit,  catching  the  author's  feeling  as  well  as  compre- 
hending his  thought. 


52  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

To  take  an  instance  from  well-known  literature,  see 
Lincoln's  Gettysburg  Speech.  The  beauty,  the  literary 
finish,  the  power  of  this  great  work  of  art  must  be  felt ; 
it  is  quite  beyond  mere  intellectual  comprehension. 
Hence,  in  the  reading  class,  before  attempting  to  read  it, 
the  setting  should  be  made  plain,  the  momentous  struggle, 
the  sad  significance  of  the  occasion,  the  heavy  weight 
upon  the  great  heart  of  Lincoln.  Then  the  class  is  ready 
to  read  with  subdued  solemnity  the  noble  words.  Then 
each  sentence  and  each  word  may  be  studied  to  see  how 
in  so  few  words  such  great  thoughts  were  uttered. 

Moore's  lines  furnish  another  illustration : 

"  When  day  with  farewell  beams  delays 

Among  the  golden  clouds  of  even, 
And  we  can  almost  think  we  gaze 

Through  openmg  vistas  into  Heaven, 
Those  hues  that  mark  the  sun's  decline 
So  grand,  so  beauteous,  Lord,  are  thine." 

The  solemnity  and  the  beauty  of  this  passage  should  be 
felt  by  the  reader  while  reading. 

"  Paul  Revere's  Ride,"  on  the  other  hand,  requires  a 
quite  different  spirit  on  the  part  of  the  reader ;  and  "  The 
Wonderful  One  Hoss  Shay,"  a  very  different  feeling 
indeed. 

Not  to  illustrate  further,  in  the  reading  of  choice 
literature,  such  as  fortunately  constitutes  the  greater 
part  of  the  material  found  in  most  higher  school  readers, 
the  aim  should  be  to  secure  appreciative  as  well  as  com- 
prehensive reading. 

Reading  Aloud.  —  One  of  the  best  means  to  this  end 
is  reading  aloud.    This  is  especially  true  of  poetry. 


Methods  of  Instruction  53 

This  should  include  reading  aloud  by  the  teacher  to  the 
children,  as  was  said  in  the  preceding  chapter. 

The  older  pupils  can  easily  be  trained  to  use  their 
voices  to  express  lightness  and  mirth,  serious  earnestness, 
beauty,  awe. 

Preliminary  Practice.  —  It  is  well,  before  reading  a 
long  selection  of  a  certain  dramatic  character,  to  prac- 
tice upon  short  passages  illustrating  a  similar  phase  of 
sentiment.  For  example,  for  practice  in  light  and 
cheerful  sentiment,  not  humorous,  the  first  lines  of 
Whittier's  "  To  a  Barefoot  Boy  "  are  excellent;  with 
the  element  of  humor  added,  Cowper's  "  John  Gilpin's 
Ride."  For  more  serious  thought,  the  earHer  stanzas 
of  Gray's  "  Elegy  "  are  fine  reading  for  older  pupils; 
for  more  tender  feelings,  comprehensible  to  children, 
lullabies  are  good,  such  as  Tennyson's  "  Sweet  and 
Low."  For  developing  appreciation  of  the  awe-inspir- 
ing there  is  nothing  better  than  Moore's  lines  quoted 
above.  The  point  is,  the  children  before  reading  good 
emotional  literature  should  be  put  into  the  proper 
frame  of  mind  and  by  practice  should  have  their  voices 
and  their  manner  of  reading  adjusted  to  the  spirit  of 
the  selection. 

Grasp  of  Thought.  Emphasis.  —  For  reading  aloud 
effectively  it  is  necessary  not  only  to  be  in  the  proper 
psychic  state  and  to  have  voice  and  manner  properly 
adjusted,  but  there  must  also  be  an  especially  good  grasp 
of  the  thought  of  the  matter  read.  The  saHent  words 
must  be  picked  out  for  emphasis.  Given  the  proper 
feeling,  emphasis  is  the  key  to  good  oral  reading. 

A  good  exercise  is  to  select  passages  and  have  the  class 
decide  by  discussion  and  experiment  what  words  should 


54  What  Children  Study  and  Why- 

receive  first  emphasis  and  what  ones  secondary.  For  ex- 
ample, in  Macbeth's  lines : 

"  If  it  were  done  when  'tis  done, 
Then  'twere  well  it  were  done  quickly." 

should  the  first  emphasis  be  on  were  or  on  done? 
Should  secondary  emphasis  be  on  tJien  or  on  quickly  or 
both  ?  A  Httle  such  practice  will  make  the  pupils  keen 
to  "  see  the  point  "  of  what  they  are  to  read. 

But  not  merely  words  are  saHent ;  sometimes  whole 
phrases  or  sentences  even,  in  which  no  particular  word 
needs  to  be  emphasized,  convey  so  much  of  the  author's 
thought  that  they  should  receive  especial  emphasis. 
For  example,  the  sentence : 

"She  looked  dowTi  to  blush  and  she  looked  up  to  sigh, 
With  a  smile  on  her  lip  and  a  tear  in  her  eye."  — 

is  divisible  into  four  parts,  each  one  of  which  is  important, 
but  no  single  word  stands  out  enough  from  the  others 
to  require  particular  stress.     It  should  be  read  evenly. 

Resume.  —  For  reading  aloud  the  needs  are  first  to 
get  into  the  spirit  of  the  piece,  second  to  grasp  its  whole 
thought,  third  to  select  the  proper  words  and  phrases 
for  emphasis.  As  a  preparation  for  all  of  these  there 
should  be  drill  in  reading  similar  short  sentences  and  care- 
ful study  of  the  piece  itself. 

Final  Result.  —  The  great  final  result  of  the  reading 
lesson  should  be  a  love  for  good  books.  By  every  possible 
means  appreciative  taste  should  be  developed.  Then 
the  children  should  be  led  from  the  reading  book  to  the 
world  of  books.  The  single  selection  should  create  the 
desire  to  read  the  book  from  which  it  was  taken.    The 


Methods  of  Instruction  55 

public  library  should  be  the  chief  ally  of  the  teacher  of 
reading.  ''  Reading "  should  always  be  reading.  It 
should  always  be  getting  thought.  Even  with  begin- 
ners such  methods  should  be  employed  as  will  focus 
attention  on  the  thought. 

The  reading  lesson  should  be  the  key  to  unlock  to  the 
children  a  treasure.  It  should  always  be  a  joy,  never 
a  task. 


CHAPTER  IV 

English  Language  Instruction 

Language  is  the*  fundamental,  the  universal  art.  It 
is  not  only  necessary  for  the  efiEcient  communication  of 
ideas  among  men,  it  is  essential  to  thought  itself  in  all 
its  higher  or  human  phases.  Without  it,  apparently, 
we  could  do  no  thinking  except  such  crude  and  rudi- 
mentary thinking  as  is  possible  to  beasts.  This  is  the 
state  of  deaf  mutes  before  they  have  been  taught  to 
recognize  and  use  words  through  some  other  medium 
than  speech. 

Language  used  effectively  by  Illiterate.  —  Yet  practi- 
cal instruction  in  the  use  of  language,  until  late,  had  no 
definite  place  in  the  curricula  of  elementary  schools. 
One  reason  for  this  condition  is  doubtless  to  be  found 
in  the  very  universality  of  the  art.  In  spite  of  Dogberry, 
reading  and  writing  are  necessarily  school  subjects. 
They  are  to  be  taught  by  special  organized  effort  and 
with  the  use  of  books.  Whereas  language  everybody 
uses.  It  is  acquired  in  infancy,  and  without  any  special 
instruction,  from  association  and  by  imitation.  When  a 
child  first  comes  to  school  he  has  a  vocabulary  adequate  to 
his  needs  and  can  use  it  effectively ;  and  all  through  life, 
whether  literate  or  illiterate,  his  use  of  language,  de- 
veloped from  practical  experience,  is  quite  sure  to  be 
adequate  to  his  practical,  fundamental  needs. 

So  that,  apparently,  language  instruction,  instead  of 

56 


English  Language  Instruction  57 

complaining  at  its  long  exclusion  from  the  elementary- 
school,  must  justify  its  plea  for  admission.  The  history 
of  language  instruction  in  elementary  schools  is  sug- 
gestive and  explains  many  things. 

Growth  of  the  Curriculum.  —  Like  the  medieval  school, 
the  early  American  school  had  its  trivium  and  its  quad- 
rivium.  The  former  comprised  the  "  three  R's,  " 
regarded  as  the  fundamental  arts,  and  constituted  the 
entire  curriculum  for  the  younger  pupil.  The  quadrivium 
for  the  older  pupils  at  first  merely  added,  to  the  trivium, 
grammar.  ^^--'' 

The  Dominance  of  Grammar. —  Grammar  was  the 
characteristic  and  conspicuous  study  of  the  higher 
schools.  It  gave  its  name  to  them,  and  this  name  is  still 
retained  for  the  higher  grades  of  the  common  school.  It 
dominated  the  schools,  not  only  in  subject  matter,  but 
in  method.  For  in  the  "good  old  days"  grammar  was 
Grammar,  the  scientific  study  of  desiccated  language. 
At  fijst  it  was  chiefly  Latin  grammar ;  and  the  English 
grammars  which  followed,  and  indeed  many  of  those 
that  still  persist,  were  modeled  after  the  Latin  grammar, 
in  spite  of  the  differences  of  the  two  languages  in  spirit, 
in  genius,  and  in  the  order  of  presenting  thought. 

Grammar  a  Barren  Subject.  —  But  never,  in  either 
Latin  or  English,  did  it  descend  to  so  frivolous  a  con- 
sideration as  either  the  practical  art  of  effective  expression 
or  the  true  comprehension  of  literature.  The  medieval 
trivium  was  richer,  barren  as  it  was  to  serve  as  the  sole 
subject  of  study,  for  it  included  with  grammar  both  logic 
and  rhetoric,  the  science  of  thought  and  the  art  of  expres- 
sion. But  our  grammar  stood  sole  and  lonely.  Not  until 
late  in  the  last  century  did  even  the  colleges  treat  rhetoric 


58  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

as  worthy  of  serious  consideration,  while  in  many  ele- 
mentary schools  even  now  language  instruction  consists 
of  a  course  of  predigested  grammar.  For  grammar 
rapidly  forced  itself  into  the  elementary  curriculum.  It 
was  the  only  answer  suggested  to  the  demand  for  in- 
struction in  the  mother  tongue.  The  mistake  was 
natural  enough.  It  is  the  same  mistake  that  was  made 
at  first  in  regard  to  the  study  of  the  phenomena  and 
laws  of  nature.  It  was  basing  the  instruction  of  young 
children  upon  logic  rather  than  upon  psychology,  upon 
the  nature  of  the  subject  studied  more  than  upon  the 
nature  of  the  children. 

Language  and  Grammar  Differentiated. — Therefore, 
in  our  discussion  of  instruction  in  the  English  language, 
it  is  necessary  to  differentiate  carefully  its  two  chief 
phases,  what  we  commonly  call  "  language  lessons " 
and  "  grammar."  Both  are  important  subjects,  essential 
to  anything  approaching  a  "  good  education."  But 
they  are  not  the  same  subject,  and  their  confusion  has 
vitiated  much  of  the  instruction  in  language  given  in  the 
elementary  schools. 

The  two  subjects  differ  both  in  nature  and  in  aim. 
In  its  nature,  language  is  an  art,  the  art  of  expressing 
thoughts  in  words.  Grammar  is  a  science,  a  statement 
of  the  laws  according  to  which  speech  is  organized.  In 
aim,  the  language  lesson  seeks  to  give  the  student  posses- 
sion of  the  art,  to  enable  him  to  express  his  thoughts  in 
words,  effectively  and  elegantly.  The  aim  of  the  gram- 
mar lesson,  on  the  contrary,  is  not  to  cultivate  effective 
expression,  but  to  acquaint  the  student  with  the  laws 
of  speech ;  to  make  him  critical  of  his  own  speech  and 
that  of  others. 


English  Language  Instruction  59 

However,  though  the  two  subjects  differ  so  widely, 
they  have  very  intimate  relations.  Grammar  includes 
the  body  of  classified  knowledge  pertaining  to  the  laws 
of  speech.  Obviously,  the  possession  of  this  knowledge 
will  furnish  a  criterion  of  exact  and  correct  expression. 
A  genuine  art  of  speech  must  rest  back  upon  known  laws. 
In  other  words,  grammar,  the  science,  is  the  basis  of 
rhetoric,  the  art.  But  a  knowledge  of  the  science  does 
not  convey  skill  in  the  art.  There  is  a  vast  difference 
between  the  establishment  of  an  art  on  the  sure  founda- 
tions of  laws,  or  even  the  use  of  such  laws  by  a  mature 
and  competent  artist,  and  its  practice  in  elementary 
forms.  A  child  does  not  need  to  understand  the  physi- 
cal laws  of  sound  and  harmony  before  he  can  be  taught 
to  sing  in  time  and  in  harmony.  Neither  does  he  need 
to  know  the  laws  of  grammar  before  he  can  be  taught  to 
speak  correctly. 

Justification  of  Language  Lesson.  —  This  leads  us 
to  the  consideration  of  the  "  language  lesson,"  its 
justification,  its  purpose,  and  its  method.  Why  are  lan- 
guage lessons  justifiable  in  elementary  schools  ?  If  every- 
body without  being  taught  uses  language  with  reasonable 
effectiveness,  why  take  time  in  school  to  teach  it  ? 

Social  Values.— First.  There  are  certain  conventions 
of  literary  art  which  cannot  be  acquired  without  instruc- 
tion. While  conformity  to  these  conventions  is  not 
absolutely  necessary  to  the  effective  communication  of 
thought  upon  the  simple  and  more  practical  relations 
of  life,  failure  to  conform  stamps  one  as  uncultivated 
and  injuriously  affects  one's  standing  among  his  fel- 
lows. This  may  not  seem  the  highest  reason,  but  it  is 
certainly   sufficient   to   justify   instruction   in   the   art. 


6o  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

Conventionally  correct  speech  and  conventionally  cor- 
rect manners,  while  not  so  important  as  unmistakable 
clearness  of  expression  and  genuine  kindliness  of  spirit, 
are  still  the  proper  media  for  these  higher  qualities. 
More  than  any  other  superficial  arts  they  smooth  the 
way  through  the  world.  The  excellent  Maine  sea  captain 
who  wrote  of  himself  and  his  companion,  "  Me  and 
William's  gittin'  along  fine,"  expressed  himself  with 
perfect  clearness  and  adequacy,  yet  his  form  of  expres- 
sion left  something  to  be  desired  as  a  qualification  for 
admission  to  a  salon. 

Letter  Writing.  —  Second,  This  phase  of  the  subject 
has  a  very  "  practical  "  aspect.  Letter  writing,  one  of 
the  most  important  branches  of  literary  art,  is  very 
dependent  upon  conventional  forms  and  the  use  of  words 
with  exact  nicety.  Modern  business  communications 
are,  more  often  than  not,  in  the  form  of  letters.  The 
ability  to  write  letters  in  correct  form,  in  "good  English," 
saying  exactly  what  one  wants  to  say,  is  an  absolutely  in- 
dispensable part  of  the  modern  business  man's  equipment. 

Necessary  to  High  Thinking.  —  Third.  The  higher 
thoughts  and  the  finer  phases  of  thought  cannot  be  ex- 
pressed at  all  through  the  crude  homespun  language  of 
the  unlettered.  Paucity  of  language  prevents  the  think- 
ing of  high  thoughts  or  of  making  those  delicate  analyses 
of  thought  that  add  incalculably  to  the  joy  and  the 
fullness  of  life. 

Aids  the  Comprehension  of  Literature. — Fourth.  Lan- 
guage training  not  only  makes  possible  the  expression, 
and  hence  the  thinking,  of  high  thoughts,  it  also  makes 
possible  the  comprehension  and  appreciation  of  the  best 
in  literature,  which  is  unseen  by  the  untrained  eye. 


English  Language  Instruction  6l 

Acquisition  of  Good  Habits.  —  Fifth.  The  great 
argument  for  instruction  in  the  art  of  language  is  the 
early  acquisition  of  habit  and  its  fixity  when  once  ac- 
quired. The  correct  use  of  language  is  the  result,  not  of 
knowledge,  but  of  habit.  A  teacher  who  was  overheard 
saying  to  her  class,  "  Ain't  that  all  the  further  we  took?  " 
when  called  to  account,  said,  amid  her  tears,  "  Why, 
I  knew  better."  I  replied,  "  Yes,  doubtless  you  could 
have  parsed  your  own  blunder."  And  she  could.  It 
was  the  result,  not  of  ignorance,  but  of  habit,  sheer  habit, 
acquired  in  the  uncultivated  home.  The  greater  number 
of  homes  are  uncultivated.  If  the  schools  are  to  remedy 
the  defects  of  the  home,  and  equip  the  children  with 
correct  habits  of  speech,  they  cannot  catch  them  too  early. 
Instruction  must  be  definite  and  thorough  and  of  the 
right  sort,  from  the  earliest  primary  grades. 

Objects  of  Instruction.  —  Let  us  consider  now  the 
aims  of  the  language  lesson.  The  first  great  aim  of 
language  instruction  in  the  earlier  years  of  school  is  to 
train  the  children  to  facility,  accuracy,  forcefulness,  and 
elegance  in  their  habitual  use  of  English,  both  when 
speaking  and  when  writing. 

Doubtless  most  teachers  will  accept  this  statement,  at 
least  in  theory.  But,  unfortunately,  when  they  come 
to  actual  teaching,  too  often  the  chief  effort  is  bent  upon 
another  aim  altogether,  namely,  the  teaching  of  the 
facts  and  principles  of  grammar.  The  homeopathic  dose 
of  calomel  is  a  dose  of  calomel  still,  though  disguised 
and  diluted.  The  grammar  notion  is  so  firmly  fixed 
in  the  minds  of  teachers,  that  it  is  well-nigh  impossible 
to  eradicate  it,  even  from  teaching  that  is  ostensibly 
for  a  wholly  different  purpose.    And  the  authorities 


62  What  Children  Study  and  Why- 

giving  tests,  no  matter  how  earnestly  they  may  have 
urged  upon  the  teachers  practical  work  in  language,  are 
almost  sure  to  put  the  brunt  of  the  examination  upon 
grammar. 

Moreover,  the  authors  of  "  language  books,"  while  in 
their  prefaces  insisting  upon  the  paramountcy  of  practical 
language  lessons,  in  the  books  themselves  too  frequently 
place  the  emphasis  upon  grammar,  and  to  such  an  extent 
that  the  teachers  are  sure  to  feel  the  necessity  of  doing 
likewise.  For  example,  several  of  these  books  define  the 
sentence  respectively  on  pages  7,  3,  2,  3,  5.  This  is  done 
manifestly  under  the  notion  that  before  using  an  instru- 
ment of  communication,  or  calling  its  name,  it  is  necessary 
to  be  able  to  define  it  in  words ;  which  is  as  sensible  as 
not  to  allow  a  child  to  name  or  play  with  a  doll  until 
he  can  define  it  in  "  good  set  terms,"  or  to  ride  on  or 
mention  a  horse  imtil,  Uke  Bitzer,  he  can  give  a  definition 
of  it.  Some  authors,  in  a  vain  endeavor  to  "  temper 
the  wind  to  the  shorn  lamb,"  resort  to  simplified  defi- 
nitions which  are  inaccurate  and  misleading  —  Bowd- 
lerized grammar.  Witness,  from  one  modern  book: 
"  A  group  of  words  which  (sic)  tells  one's  thoughts  is 
called  a  sentence," 

Essential  Evils  of  Grammar  Dominance,  —  These  are 
but  illustrations  of  the  foes  that  lie  in  wait  to  deceive 
and  mislead  the  teachers  who  would  teach  language  really 
and  vitally.  They  are  to  be  criticized,  not  chiefly  be- 
cause of  the  futility  or  even  the  misleading  nature  of  the 
instruction  resulting,  but  because  of  the  influence  of  this 
early  technical  teaching  on  the  spirit  and  method  of  all 
the  work,  "  The  trail  of  the  serpent  is  over  it  all." 
The  efforts  of  teacher  and  class  alike  are  inevitably 


English  Language  Instruction  63 

diverted  from  the  real  object  of  the  instruction  to  a 
secondary  function.  Like  the  rudimentary  tail,  the 
notion  persists  that  to  be  able  to  recite  the  rules  and 
definitions  of  grammar  is  a  prerequisite  to  the  utterance 
of  correct  speech.  The  battle  of  psychology  against 
logic  in  the  teaching  of  children  is  a  long  and  hard  one, 
and  the  favorite  battle  ground  is  the  field  of  language. 

Place  of  Grammar.  —  The  time  comes,  of  course, 
when  the  teaching  of  grammar  is  a  legitimate  aim. 
Even  in  the  elementary  grades,  when  the  function  of  a 
word  as  such  is  spoken  of,  the  correct  name  of  the  word 
is  better  than  a  nickname.  A  name  is  a  handle,  and  when 
it  can  be  used  with  reasonable  accuracy,  it  is  preferable 
to  a  substitute.  It  is  well  enough  for  a  child  to  call 
a  dog  bowwow  until  the  function  has  become  associated 
in  the  infant  mind  with  its  source.  Then  the  bowwow 
should  become  the  dog.  So  "  name-word  "  very  early 
gives  place  to  "  noun."  But  this  is  at  most  incidental. 
Grammar  is  properly  a  high  school  study,  though,  as 
many  never  reach  the  high  school,  it  may  without  injury, 
in  a  simple  form,  enter  into  the  higher  grades  of  the  ele- 
mentary school.  Yet  even  then  it  must  not  be  allowed 
to  interfere  with  the  constructive  work  of  the  language 
lesson. 

Necessity  of  Vital  Interest.  —  The  fundamental  general 
aim  of  all  class  exercises  is  to  arouse  and  maintain  a  vital 
interest  in  the  subject  pursued.  Such  interest  on  the 
part  of  young  children  demands  the  free,  glad  exercise 
of  natural  powers,  aching  for  exercise.  Free  and  joyful 
expression  of  himself  is  the  manifest  first  necessary  aim 
in  a  child's  education,  an  aim  that  precedes  and  makes 
possible  higher  disciplinary  aims.     For  young  children 


64  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

in  a  language  class,  formal  grammar,  even  in  the  shape 
of  mere  definitions  before  they  can  possibly  be  developed 
intelligently  out  of  experience,  dams  the  stream  of  interest 
and  perverts  the  aim  of  instruction. 

Training  to  Think.  —  A  second  aim  of  the  language 
lesson  is  to  train  children  to  think.  Thinking  is  organiz- 
ing ideas  into  definite  comprehensible  wholes,  technically 
known  as  sentences.  The  relations  of  thinking  and  ex- 
pressing thoughts  are  reciprocal.  No  clear  expression  is 
possible  unless  the  thought  to  be  expressed  is  clear.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  effort  to  organize  ideas  for  expression 
clarifies  them  in  the  mind.  Hence  a  good  language 
lesson  is  training  in  thinking. 

Appreciation  of  Literature.  —  A  third  specific  aim  of  the 
language  lesson  is  the  appreciation  of  literary  art.  This 
aim  is  not  chiefly  critical,  in  the  offensive  sense.  In- 
deed, with  young  children  such  critical  study  should  be 
wholly  obscured.  But,  through  the  language  lesson,  as 
well  as  through  the  reading  lesson,  children  should  learn 
to  see  the  beauties  of  good  literature.  In  the  lowest 
grades,  this  can  be  little  more  than  "  I  like  "  or  "  I  don't 
like,"  but  gradually  the  reasons  may  be  brought  out. 
And  in  the  grammar  grades  a  considerable  degree  of  well- 
founded  taste  may  be  developed. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  vast  majority  of  pupils 
never  go  beyond  the  grammar  school ;  and  whatever  of 
taste  they  acquire  must  be  developed  early.  Especially 
by  correlating  language  study  with  the  reading  lesson, 
enough  may  be  accomplished  to  direct  in  great  measure 
the  reading  of  children  after  leaving  school. 

Enriching  Vocabulary.  —  A  fourth  aim  of  the  language 
lesson,  which  is  really  a  corollary  of  the  other  two,  is  to 


English  Language  Instruction  65 

enrich  the  pupils'  vocabulary  and  to  enable  them  to 
use  words  in  their  exact  meanings.  The  average  vocabu- 
lary is  pitifully  small.  By  large  numbers  of  fairly 
intelligent  people  two  or  three  adjectives  are  used  to 
indicate  nearly  all  qualities.  "  Lovely  "  and  "  horrid  " 
cover  a  multitude  of  characteristics.  Punch  has  a  picture 
of  a  French  boy  asking  an  Enghsh  boy  what  the  three  r 's 
are.  After  some  hesitation  the  answer  is  given,  "  rum, 
rippin',  and  rotten,"  adjectives  that  are  supposed  to 
describe  all  things  worthy  of  description  by  an  English 
schoolboy. 

I  was  visiting  the  Grand  Canyon  of  the  Colorado  in 
Arizona.  A  lady,  after  gazing  long  at  the  stupendous, 
awe-inspiring  panorama,  turned  to  a  companion  and  said, 
"  Isn't  it  just  the  cutest  thing  you  ever  saw  in  your  life  ?  " 

To  remove  this  poverty  of  words  to  express  var3dng 
ideas  should  be  one  aim  of  the  language  lesson.  Both 
through  the  appreciative  study  of  literature  and  through 
much  attention  to  the  choice  of  suitable  words  by  the 
children  in  expressing  their  own  ideas,  it  should  be  im- 
pressed upon  them  that  the  right  word  tells  the  truth,  the 
wrong  word  does  not. 

If  all  teachers  of  the  subject  would  differentiate  be- 
tween the  "  language  lesson  "  and  the  "  grammar  lesson," 
and  would  expend  their  efforts  in  the  former  toward  se- 
curing correct  habits  of  speech,  rather  than  verbal 
statements  of  laws  uncomprehended  by  the  children,  it 
would  mark  a  great  advance  over  prevailing  conditions. 
But  before  this  may  be  hoped  for  those  in  authority  must 
fix,  as  the  criterion  of  the  teacher's  work  in  language, 
correct  speech,  oral  and  written,  by  the  children,  rather 
than  statements  about  it. 


CHAPTER  V 

Language  Instruction  Methods 

How  Children  learn  Language.  —  How  does  a  child 
naturally  learn  to  use  language  ?  At  first  altogether,  and 
always  chiefly,  by  sheer  imitation.  There  is  no  other  way 
for  him.  One's  vocabulary  depends  upon  memory. 
The  art  of  language  consists  in  using  the  remembered 
vocabulary  in  effective  combinations,  and  such  combina- 
tions are  for  the  most  part  imitations.  Only  at  rare 
intervals  is  an  original  form  of  expression  produced. 
In  teaching  language  the  two  inseparable  and  essential 
elements  are  the  language  of  others  —  conversation  and 
Hterature  —  to  supply  vocabulary  and  model  forms  in 
great  variety,  and  much  practice  in  the  use  of  language, 
to  reduce  conscious  imitation  to  unconscious  imitation 
or  habit,  to  make  the  vocabulary  learned  a  permanent 
possession  through  use,  and  to  give  facility  and  personal 
character,  —  style, —  to  the  form  of  expression  employed. 

Coincidently  with  observation  and  expression,  and  as 
a  further  aid  in  the  acquirement  of  language  power  and 
of  the  art  of  expression,  comes  a  knowledge  of  certain 
fixed  conventions  of  general  acceptance.  These  are  the 
"  rules  "  of  grammar  and  of  rhetoric. 

In  the  earher  stages  of  a  child's  learning  language,  rules 
are  of  little  consequence.  With  advancing  maturity  and 
logical  power  they  become  increasingly  important, 
clinching  and  putting  into  convenient  and  condensed 

66 


Language  Instruction  Methods  67 

form  the  principles  and  language  customs  that  have 
already  been  demonstrated  to  the  learner  and  imitated 
by  him.  Only  when  they  record  experience  are  these 
rules  of  value  —  a  fact  that  bears  directly  on  the 
method  of  teaching. 

Good  Models  Essential.  —  The  first  essentials,  then, 
in  teaching  language  to  children  are  good  models  to 
imitate  and  good  thought  to  express,  with  the  desire  to 
express  it. 

Before  a  child  comes  to  school,  his  models  are  chiefly 
the  oral  speech  of  family  and  of  playmates.  In  some 
cases  to  these  have  been  added  stories  told  to  the  children 
and  learned  by  them,  which  have  greatly  enlarged  their 
vocabulary.  It  follows  that  among  the  members  of  any 
class  entering  school  there  are  wide  differences  of  vocabu- 
lary, both  in  extent  and  in  character,  and  also  in  habits 
of  speech. 

During  the  first  two  or  three  years  of  the  school  life 
the  teaching  of  language  is  mainly  incidental,  and,  per- 
haps for  this  very  reason,  especially  effective.  The  sources 
of  new  vocabulary  are  vast,  all  the  new  subjects  of  the 
school  course  and  the  conversation  of  teachers  and  fellow 
pupils  about  these  subjects,  —  nature  study,  number, 
writing,  and  especially  reading,  through  which  the  chil- 
dren receive  their  conscious  introduction  to  the  vocabu- 
lary and  style  of  literature.  Besides,  the  modern  primary 
school  offers  and  encourages  an  abundance  of  oral  ex- 
pression on  many  subjects,  and  this  expression  is  free, 
with  the  mind  fixed  on  the  thought  and  on  the  expression 
merely  as  to  its  adequacy,  unvcxed  by  the  disturbing 
suggestion  that  "  language  "  is  being  studied  and  un- 
hampered   by    fear   of   interrupting    correction.     Such 


68  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

experiences  develop  language  power  amazingly,  so  as 
often  to  give  rise  to  questions  as  to  the  reason.  We 
are  apt  to  forget  that  power  in  language,  as  in  all  else, 
is  a  by-product. 

Decline  in  Language  Power.  —  In  the  third  or  fourth 
grade,  usually,  the  formal  language  lesson  is  introduced, 
commonly  with  a  book.  Then  too  often  begins  the  de- 
cHne.  Language  power  seems  to  be  palsied.  In  spite 
of  Hberal  doses  of  grammar,  both  raw  and  predigested, 
free  and  effective  speech  gradually  disappears  from  the 
schoolroom,  being  relegated  to  the  home,  the  playground, 
and  the  street,  where  freedom  is  not  always  tempered  with 
continence,  or  adorned  with  art.  Why  is  it?  Let  me 
risk  wearying  the  reader  with  a  brief  criticism  of  the  usual 
formal  language  lesson,  drawn  from  the  average  language 
book. 

Bad  Lessons.  —  First  comes  a  definition,  frequently 
badly  expressed,  and  sometimes  incorrect,  in  a  vain 
attempt  to  make  plain  to  children  what  is  beyond  them, 
by  expressing  it  in  inferior  English  —  a  very  common 
error,  whether  "  baby  talk  "  or  grammar.  For  example, 
—  "A  tongue  sound  used  to  indicate  an  object  or  an  idea 
is  called  a  word,"  or  this,  —  "Mental  pictures  axe  for 
short  called  ideas." 

The  words  of  the  definition  having  been  committed  to 
memory,  then  comes  a  copying  exercise  "  to  fix  them." 
Then  follows  an  exercise  in  filling  blanks,  as  (from  one 

book)  "  The song  is  sweeter  than  the "  ;  or  (from 

another  book)  "  A  pin a  head  but no  hair." 

Even  worse  than  these  are  the  formal  grammar  lessons  in 
primary  grades. 

Thought,  freedom,  fluency,  appropriateness,  those  un- 


Language  Instruction  Methods  69 

failing  characteristics  of  untrammeled  expression,  are 
all  absent.  Language  has  become  a  mere  task,  —  to 
"  illustrate  "  something,  to  explain  a  rule  or  a  definition. 
Hence  it  is  no  wonder  that  power  is  lost,  for  power  comes 
only  through  exercise,  and  power  in  language  is  the  result 
of  the  effective  expression  of  thought. 

Training  to  Think.  —  Since  teaching  language  is  teach- 
ing thinking, — organizing  ideas  and  indicating  their  rela- 
tions,—  the  necessary  order  of  instruction  is  somewhat  as 
follows :  First,  the  presentation  of  good  models.  Second, 
stimulating  thought  that  demands  expression.  Third, 
clarifying  and  organizing  the  thought.  Fourth,  securing 
free  and  abundant  expression  which,  largely  uncon- 
sciously, follows  the  models  in  vocabulary  and  style. 
Fifth,  giving  such  definite  instruction  in  regard  to  the 
conventions  of  speech  —  the  rules  of  grammar  and  of 
rhetoric  —  as  will  enable  the  learner  to  judge  of  the 
correctness  of  his  expression,  putting  his  practical  knowl- 
edge, his  observed  facts,  into  technical  form  convenient 
for  memorizing.  SLxth,  developing  and  enlarging  the 
child's  vocabulary.  Let  us  briefly  consider  these  six 
essentials  of  method. 

Sources  of  Models.  —  First.  The  models  that  the 
teacher  can  use  are  his  own  speech  and  that  of  the  other 
pupils  in  school  in  so  far  as  he  can  control  it,  and  good 
literature. 

As  to  the  first,  the  teacher  cannot  be  too  careful. 
Children  are  so  sure  to  imitate  both  consciously  and  un- 
consciously that  a  single  incorrect  expression  used  before 
a  class  is  Hkely  to  form  a  part  of  the  vocabulary  of  all 
the  children  and  to  spread  even  into  the  homes. 

The  chief  reUance  for  models  of  form  and  of  vocabu- 


70  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

lary  is  literature,  found  either  in  books  read  by  the  chil- 
dren or  in  stories  told  to  them ;  and  it  must  be  inter- 
esting literature.  It  is  not  enough  to  give  children 
disconnected  sentences  illustrating  a  "point,"  or  to  require 
them  to  repeat  correct  forms  many  times.  Mere  forced 
reiteration  does  not  produce  habit.  There  must  be 
interest  in  the  thing  repeated,  to  give  effect  to  the  repeti- 
tion. An  interesting  story  in  which  a  form  that  it  is 
desired  to  teach  occurs  repeatedly  is  vastly  more  effective 
in  impressing  the  form  than  the  mere  recital  of  the  form 
itself  an  indefinite  number  of  times.  The  child  who 
first  Hstens  wide-eyed  to  the  story  of  the  "  Three  Goats 
Bruit,"  and  then  tells  it,  using  repeatedly,  as  he  will, 
the  form  "  It  is  I,"  builds  a  barrier  against  "  It  is  me" 
many  times  more  effective  than  if  he  were  to  recite  or  to 
write,  "It  is  I,"  without  interesting  association  any 
number  of  times.  Hence,  model  passages,  drawn  from 
literature  and  illustrating  the  correct  use  of  the  forms 
that  must  be  employed,  should  be  studied  in  connection 
with  the  free  expression,  preferably  beforehand,  to  lay 
a  metaphysical  foundation,  arid  to  suggest  vocabulary 
and  style. 

Caution.  —  A  caution  is  needed  here.  The  written 
reproduction  of  choice  literature,  excepting  very  rarely 
for  the  sake  of  impressing  some  specified  form,  is  vicious, 
and  its  most  vicious  phase  is  the  paraphrasing  of  poems. 

Material  for  Thought.  —  Second.  The  language  lesson 
should  present  to  the  children  a  large  amount  of  appro- 
priate thought-compelKng  material  of  such  a  nature  that 
they  will  be  moved  to  think  and  will  desire  to  express 
their  thoughts.  The  subject  matter  must  appeal  to  the 
children  as  of  consequence.     The  larger  interest  in  the 


Language  Instruction  Methods  71 

thought  will  carry  the  smaller  interest  in  the  form.  The 
material  that  should  be  drawn  upon  for  the  language 
lesson  includes  the  best  in  the  child's  world,  and  the  most 
natural ;  his  home  life,  his  games  and  occupations,  his 
school  life,  especially  the  content  subjects  of  his  daily 
work — literature,  history,  nature.  These  are  natural  and 
valuable  subjects  of  thought  upon  which  children  can 
easily  be  induced  to  express  themselves  freely,  if  not  too 
much  hampered  by  fear  of  interrupting  corrections. 

Continued  Discourse.  —  Excepting  occasionally  and 
for  very  specific  purposes,  the  language  expression  should 
be  in  full  and  continuous  discourse  and  not  in  mere 
illustrative  sentences ;  that  is,  it  should  be  natural,  like 
expression  when  not  in  the  language  class. 

Oral  Expression.  —  The  first  expression  usually  should 
be  oral.  It  is  easier  to  correct  and  it  is  of  more  conse- 
quence to  the  average  person. 

Clear  Thinking,  —  Third.  Before  thought  can  be 
expressed  effectively,  it  must  be  conceived  clearly. 
Teachers  sometimes  wonder  at  their  failure  to  secure 
good  English  expression,  and  pound  away  on  the  forms 
and  the  rules  and  definitions,  or  even  encourage  much 
talking  without  securing  the  desired  results,  because  they 
have  ignored  the  essential  thing,  the  thought  itself.  In 
many  instances  much  time  must  be  given  to  clarifying 
and  organizing  thought  before  good  expression  is  pos- 
sible. 

Sentence  and  Paragraph,  —  The  sentence  and  the 
paragraph  are  the  elementary  bases  of  the  expression  of 
organized  thought,  —  the  sentence  of  the  single  thought 
and  the  paragraph  of  the  group  of  closely  related  thoughts. 
Hence  in  the  earlier  stages,  and  indeed  in  all  stages  of 


72  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

language  instruction,  much  attention  should  be  given 
to  the  construction  of  clear-cut  sentences  and  para- 
graphs. 

The  Sentence.  —  What  is  a  sentence?  An  idea  is  the 
primary  unit  of  thought.  A  thought  is  the  union  of  at 
least  two  ideas  in  an  assertion,  a  question  or  a  command. 
Its  essential  feature  is  predication.  A  sentence  is  cor- 
rectly defined  as  "  the  expression  of  a  thought  in  words." 
But  this  definition  is  not  for  young  children.  Besides  its 
logical  definition,  the  sentence  has  also  its  fimctional 
or  '*  working  "  definition.  The  first  knowledge  of  any- 
thing that  comes  to  a  child  is  always  a  working  knowl- 
edge and  comes  through  observation  and  experience. 
The  logical  definition  arrives  very  late,  if  at  all.  Most 
of  us  have  a  competent  working  knowledge  of  many  things 
that  we  cannot  define.  What  we  first  observe  are  ap- 
pearance and  function. 

Children  learn  sentences  in  Just  this  way.  They  ob- 
serve the  appearance.  Each  sentence  stands  by  itself 
on  a  printed  page,  clearly  separated  from  every  other 
sentence.  Its  beginning  and  its  end  are  clearly  shown, 
the  beginning  by  a  capital  letter  and  the  end  by  an  easily 
recognized  mark.  With  a  very  little  drill  the  children 
can  quickly  learn  to  divide  a  page  into  sentences  from 
appearance  alone. 

Then  each  sentence  does  something,  it  has  a  function. 
It  asserts,  it  asks,  or  it  commands.  This  is  a  more 
reliable  criterion  than  appearance.  Together  they  are 
nearly  infallible.  At  least  they  are  sufficiently  exact  for 
the  uses  of  any  child  in  a  primary  school. 

To  tell  a  child  of  the  third  or  fourth  grade  that  a  sen- 
tence is  the  complete  expression  of  a  thought  does  not 


Language  Instruction  Methods  73 

add  to  his  knowledge  of  a  sentence.  It  rather  tends  to 
confuse  him,  because  he  is  too  immature  to  grasp  the 
metaphysical  nature  of  a  thought.  And  even  if  he  were 
to  grasp  it,  the  knowledge  would  scarcely  aid  him  in 
comprehending  what  he  reads  or  in  expressing  his  own 
thoughts.  What  he  needs  is  a  working  knowledge, 
knowledge  of  appearance  and  function.  So  there  should 
be  much  drill  in  recognizing  sentences  from  these  evi- 
dences. Many  sentences  of  each  of  the  three  functional 
classes  should  be  presented  for  selection  on  both  grounds. 
Then  the  child  should  make  many  sentences  of  all  three 
kinds.  His  first  formal  written  work  should  be  in  ex- 
pression of  his  own  thought  on  some  topic  of  interest  to 
him,  the  technical  requirement  being  that  he  make  his 
sentences  complete. 

The  Paragraph.  —  The  study  of  the  paragraph  natu- 
rally follows  that  of  the  sentence.  The  paragraph  is  the 
secondary  unit  of  organized  language.  The  sentence  is 
a  union  of  ideas ;  the  paragraph,  of  thoughts. 

The  first  step  is  the  observation  of  some  selection 
divided  into  paragraphs,  accompanied  by  a  discussion 
of  the  reasons  for  such  division. 

This  should  be  followed  by  a  grouping  of  sentences  into 
paragraphs.  For  example :  The  class  talk  about  some 
interesting  topic  quite  freely,  while  the  teacher  writes  on 
the  blackboard  the  sentences  given  by  different  pupils. 
Then  the  class  discuss  the  sentences  and  decide  how  they 
should  be  grouped. 

Much  practice  both  in  observation  and  in  production 
will  make  a  class  quite  expert  in  the  use  of  both  para- 
graphs and  sentences  without  any  metaphysical  defini- 
tions whatever,  and  in  the  primary  grades  no  attempt 


74  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

at  definition  should  be  made,  except  by  appearance 
and   function. 

Need  of  Progression.  —  Necessarily  with  growing 
power  the  treatment  of  these  units  becomes  more  and 
more  systematic  and  logical.  One  of  the  serious  defects 
of  many  language  books  is  the  lack  of  progression. 
The  last  part  is  on  the  same  plane  of  diflSculty  as  the  first. 
The  only  progress  clearly  sought  for  is  in  the  knowledge 
of  the  merely  mechanical  or  technical  requirements  of 
written  composition.  Progressive  power  to  think  clearly 
and  to  organize  thought  is  not  developed.  And  yet  this 
is  one  of  the  most  important  functions  of  the  language 
lesson. 

Complete  Discourse.  —  From  the  paragraph  easy  steps 
should  lead  to  the  larger  unit,  the  whole  discourse.  First 
should  come  the  study  of  the  literary  model,  the  analysis 
and  representation  in  outline  of  some  selection  readily 
grasped  by  the  pupils.  After  considerable  practice 
in  this  exercise  the  construction  of  a  story  or  a  descrip- 
tion from  an  outHne  given  on  a  topic  similar  to  the  one 
studied  follows  naturally.  This  should  be  followed  by 
the  making  of  original  outHnes  and  the  writing  of  stories 
or  other  literary  forms  from  them.  With  the  younger 
children  it  is  well  to  make  the  first  studies  in  cooperation 
with  the  teacher,  upon  the  blackboard.  Later,  individ- 
ual productions  should  be  made. 

Clarifying  Thought.  —  Many  devices  might  be  men- 
tioned as  helpful  in  clarifying  thought  for  writing.  The 
observation  of  nature  and  the  making  of  notes  from  time 
to  time,  followed  by  a  careful  coordination  and  arrange- 
ment of  parts,  and  finally  a  full  written  account  of  what 
was  observed,  is  an  excellent  exercise.     Another  is  the 


Language  Instruction  Methods  75 

collection,  by  the  class  in  cooperation,  of  facts  about  some 
topic  in  geography  or  history  or  literature,  combining 
these  into  a  series  of  carefully  edited  chapters,  making 
a  cooperative  book.  .    • 

Motor  Activities.  —  One  of  the  very  best  means  avail- 
able to  all  for  clarifying  thought  is  through  some  form 
of  manual  expression,  utilizing  the  motor  activities.  This 
truth  is  universally  recognized  in  schools  for  the  feeble- 
minded, where  the  main  reliance  for  awakening  dormant 
minds  is  the  employment  of  the  muscular  sense.  It  is 
also  especially  valuable  with  foreigners,  to  whom  fre- 
quently the  thing  made  by  hand  gives  the  first  dawning 
of  comprehension.  Modeling  in  clay,  picturing  with 
pencil  or  brush,  representing  by  cutting  from  paper  with 
scissors,  constructing  with  carpenters'  tools,  so  clarify  im- 
pression that  clear  expression  follows  readily.  When  a 
child  has  made  a  thing,  he  knows  it.  When  he  knows  it 
thoroughly,  he  can  usually  tell  about  it.  The  so-called 
"  sand  table,"  a  long  table  on  which  may  be  represented 
in  various  media  continued  stories,  or  entire  histori- 
cal and  geographical  scenes,  has  cleared  the  minds  and 
loosened  the  tongues  of  hundreds  of  children. 

There  are  many  other  devices,  but  it  is  not  my  purpose 
to  treat  of  devices.  Those  I  have  given  are  merely 
typical  and  suggestive  of  the  necessity  of  developing 
good  thinking  through  the  language  lesson. 

Free  Expression.  —  Fourth.  Some  ways  of  stimulat- 
ing free  expression  have  already  been  indicated.  When 
interest  has  been  aroused  and  a  desire  for  expression 
created,  let  the  expression  come.  Guide  it.  See  that  it 
is  profitable,  but  do  not  check  it.  The  art  is  never 
learned  but  by  use.    The  flow  should  be  directed  into 


76  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

the  proper  channel,  but  if  there  is  no  flow,  of  what  use 
is  the  channel?  In  all  grades  much  oral  speech  should 
be  encouraged,  both  because  of  its  own  supreme  impor- 
tance and  as  a  preparation  for  the  written  work. 

Place  of  Rules.  —  Fifth.  Instruction  in  technic  and  in 
conventional  forms  should  be  given  as  needed,  after  free 
expression  has  been  secured  and  after  some  literary  in- 
terest and  appreciation  have  been  developed,  not  before. 
Throughout  the  elementary  grades  such  instruction 
should  be  given  only  as  it  is  of  manifest  service  in  express- 
ing thought  or  in  appreciating  thought  as  expressed  by 
others.  It  should  be  incidental,  not,  however,  accidental. 
It  should  be  systematic  and  thorough.  It  should  include 
all  the  mechanical  rules  of  correct  form,  —  punctuation, 
the  use  of  capitals,  the  correct  use  of  many  word  forms, 
regular  and  irregular,  often  misused,  the  meanings  of 
words,  and  especially  the  conventional  forms  of  letter 
writing.  To  the  average  citizen  letter  writing  is  the 
only  literary  exercise  that  is  at  all  practical.  Most 
people  use  no  other.  Hence  it  should  be  very  carefully 
and  well  taught,  not  in  a  few  lessons  "  bunched  "  in  a 
single  chapter  of  a  language  book,  but  continually, 
through  practice  under  instruction.  The  instruction 
should  include,  not  only  the  correct  forms  of  opening, 
closing,  and  the  like,  but  should  suggest  what  to  say  in 
various  kinds  of  letters. 

Developing  Vocabulary.  —  Sixth.  Making  a  child's 
vocabulary  fuller  and  more  exact  is  a  somewhat  difficult 
task. 

First,  the  children  should  be  interested  in  words.  They 
should  be  led  to  see  the  varying  shades  of  truthfulness 
in  words  used  to  convey  ideas.     That  is  not  difficult,  for 


Language  Instruction  Methods  77 

a  word  is  a  very  vital  thing,  and  if  presented  rightly,  is 
as  interesting  as  a  bird  or  a  pebble.  The  chief  source 
of  a  vocabulary  that  marks  the  user  as  cultivated  is 
literature.  Much  reading  of  good  literature  necessarily 
gives  the  knowledge  of  a  choice  and  varied  vocabulary. 

Professor  Percival  Chubb,  in  his  excellent  book,  "  The 
Teaching  of  English,"  observes  that  through  the  use  of 
standard  folk  lore  and  of  rhymes  such  as  those  of  "Mother 
Goose "  even  little  children  are  made  familiar  with 
literary  language.  Hence  children's  minds  should  be 
steeped  in  these  old  tales  and  verses,  that  they  may  start 
with  more  than  the  common  colloquial  vocabulary. 

Telling  good  standard  stories  to  children,  to  be  retold 
by  them,  is  one  of  the  best  exercises  for  developing  a  good 
vocabulary.  This  is  especially  valuable  for  young  chil- 
dren whose  reading  is  necessarily  very  limited.  In  tell- 
ing such  stories  great  care  should  be  taken  to  use  the 
literary  language  in  which  they  are  dressed.  Children 
in  retelhng  are  sure  to  repeat  these  literary  words. 

With  young  children,  and  with  foreigners  especially, 
a  very  good  plan  is  to  write  the  unusual  words  on  the 
blackboard,  that  they  may  appeal  to  the  eye  and  thus 
aid  the  memory.  Children  will  unconsciously  employ 
them  in  the  right  places.  The  teacher  telling  the  story, 
without  interrupting  the  narrative  or  saying  anything 
about  the  words,  writes  on  the  board  a  few  such  words, 
as  she  uses  them.  As  the  story  is  told  repeatedly  more 
words  may  be  added.  It  will  be  found  that  the  chil- 
dren will  use  this  visible  vocabulary  \vith  surprising 
accuracy. 

For  example,  suppose  the  story  to  be  the  following 
old  Arabian  fable : 


78  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

A  thoughtful  fisherman  who  had  caught  a  very  little 
fish  was  putting  it  into  his  basket, 

"  Oh,  fisherman,"  said  the  little  fish,  "  I  entreat  you 
to  restore  me  to  my  house  in  the  water ;  I  am  so  little 
that  I  shall  scarcely  be  a  bite  for  you.  When  I  grow 
larger,  I  shall  make  you  a  feast." 

"  True,"  said  the  wise  fisherman,  "  but  where  shall  I 
find  you  when  you  have  grown  larger?  " 

The  teacher  in  telling  this  story  for  the  first  time  might 
write  on  the  blackboard  such  words  as  thoughtful,  fisher- 
man, entreat,  home,  scarcely.  At  a  second  telling  she 
might  a.dd feast,  wise,  grown,  restore,  larger.  These  words 
would  be  sure  to  be  used  by  the  children,  not  only  in 
retelling  the  story,  but  also  as  a  part  of  their  permanent 
vocabulary. 

In  the  higher  grades  especially,  it  is  well  to  call  atten- 
tion to  the  careful  and  exact  use  of  words  by  some  skill- 
ful author.  How  does  he  produce  the  effect  that  they 
admire?  What  would  be  the  effect  of  substituting 
other  words  ?  Let  them  try  it.  For  example,  take  this 
selection  from  Henry  W.  Grady :  l 

"  Let  me  picture  to  you  the  footsore  Confederate 
soldier,  as  buttoning  in  his  faded  gray  jacket,  the  parole 
which  was  to  bear  testimony  of  his  fidelity  and  faith, 
he  turned  his  face  southward  from  Appomattox  in  April, 
1865.  Think  of  him  as,  ragged,  half -starved,  heavy- 
hearted,  enfeebled  by  want  and  wounds,  having  fought  to 
exhaustion,  he  surrenders  his  gun,  wrings  the  hands  of 
his  comrades  in  silence,  and,  lifting  his  tear-stained  and 
pallid  face  for  the  last  time  to  the  graves  that  dot  old 
Virginia's  hills,  pulls  his  gray  cap  over  his  brow,  and 
begins  the  slow  and  painful  journey." 


Language  Instruction  Methods  79 

Have  the  children  study  the  following  words  to  see 
just  what  each  adds  to  the  picture : 


footsore 

faded 

fidelity 

southward 

ragged 

half-starved 

enfeebled 

exhaustion 

surrenders 

wrings 

tear-stained 

graves 

old 

pulls 

slow 

painful 

Then  let  them  try  to  substitute  some  other  word  for 
each  of  these  and  judge  the  effect. 

The  older  pupils  also  may  profitably  spend  considerable 
time  in  the  study  of  synonyms.  The  spelling  book  fre- 
quently gives  lists.  Especially  should  the  children  in 
all  grades  be  stimulated  to  give  particular  care  to  the 
choice  of  the  best  word  in  each  case  to  express  exactly 
what  is  meant.  It  should  become  a  matter  of  rivalry 
and  pride.  It  may  even  be  developed  into  a  game. 
"  Who  can  find  the  largest  number  of  words  that  express 
the  idea  of  strength?  What  are  their  differences  of 
meaning?     Show  these  by  use  in  sentences." 

Neglect  in  Higher  Grades.  —  When  formal  grammar 
is  taken  up  in  the  higher  grades,  it  is  quite  too  common  to 
allow  constructive  language  work  to  take  a  minor  place. 
This  is  a  sad  mistake.  Even  in  the  higher  grades  it  is 
of  vastly  greater  consequence  that  the  children  acquire 
increasing  power  to  use  language  well  than  that  they 
learn  the  rules  of  grammar.  Especial  care  should  be 
exercised  here  to  see  that  the  grammar  does  not  crowd 
out  the  language  lesson.  New  and  interesting  exercises 
should  be  introduced,  suited  to  sustain  the  attention  of 
older  children,  who  should  be  encouraged  to  write  in 
various  styles,  in  imitation  of  admired  authors,  and  upon 
various  topics. 


8o  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

Correlations  Needed.  —  The  language  exercise  should 
be  closely  correlated  with  history,  geography,  nature 
study,  and  especially  literature.  Much  of  this  correla- 
tion necessarily  will  be  incidental,  particularly  in  oral 
recitations. 

All  Written  Work  the  Best  Possible. —  All  written 
lessons  should  be  in  the  best  English  that  the  students 
can  command.  This  should  be  a  rigid  requirement. 
The  pupils  should  understand  that  a  paper  sloven  in 
style,  careless  or  incorrect  in  vocabulary,  will  not  be 
accepted.  This  requirement  strictly  enforced  will  do 
more  to  develop  the  habit  of  using  good  English  than 
any  number  of  formal  compositions.  These  may  not  be 
neglected,  however.  They  are  very  necessary,  but  in 
life  out  of  school  one's  English  is  judged  by  his  use  of 
language  in  expressing  his  thoughts  upon  all  subjects  in 
conversation  and  in  letters.  Very  few  indeed  ever  have 
occasion  to  attempt  strictly  literary  composition.  This 
fact  should  be  a  guide  to  the  teacher. 

Every  Lesson  a  Language  Lesson.  —  All  teachers  are 
of  necessity  teachers  of  language  and  all  lessons  should 
be  language  lessons.  Indeed,  every  lesson  is  a  lesson  in 
language,  good  or  bad,  for  it  is  by  expressing,  not  certain 
selected  thoughts,  but  all  thoughts,  that  habits  of  speech 
are  formed. 

Caution.  —  A  caution,  however,  is  needed  here.  Lan- 
guage is  used  in  expressing  thought.  In  our  eagerness 
to  secure  correct  expression,  we  must  not  ignore  the 
thought;  clear  thinking  must  precede  clear,  fluent  ex- 
pression. In  their  anxiety  to  correct  error,  teachers 
sometimes  so  annoy  and  interrupt  children  as  to  stop 
the  thinking  and  thus  cut  off  the  means  of  instruction. 


Language  Instruction  Methods  8 1 

The  correction,  if  needed,  should  not  break  into  the 
current  of  thought,  but  should  come  after  the  statement 
has  been  completed. 

Resume.  —  By  the  employment  of  good  models  of  oral 
speech  and  Hterary  composition,  by  stimulating  thought 
that  demands  expression,  by  training  to  lucid  and  logi- 
cal thinking  as  the  basis  of  lucid  and  logical  expression, 
by  securing  abundant  and  free  expression,  both  oral  and 
written,  and  by  teaching  inductively  the  necessary  prin- 
ciples and  laws  of  correct  expression,  it  is  possible  to 
secure  for  most  children  a  fair  degree  of  the  inestimable 
power,  fluently,  clearly,  effectively,  and  even  elegantly 
to  express  their  thoughts. 


CHAPTER  VI 

English  Grammar 

Grammar  treats  of  the  science  of  language.  It  con- 
sists in  a  properly  classified  statement  of  the  rules  that 
govern  correct  speech  and  of  the  facts  and  principles 
underlying  these  rules. 

The  Laws  of  Speech.  —  The  "laws  of  speech"  in  their 
origin  differ  wholly  from  the  "  laws  of  nature,"  which  are 
a  statement  of  the  mode  of  action  of  natural  forces  and  are 
inherent  in  nature,  and  hence  inviolable  and  unchange- 
able. They  differ  also  from  statute  laws,  which  are 
enactments  made  by  legally  constituted  authorities  for 
the  control  of  the  conduct  of  those  lawfully  subject  to 
them,  and  hence  are  arbitrary  rather  than  natural,  are  not 
inviolable,  but  may  be  changed  by  the  proper  authorities. 

The  laws  of  grammar  are  arbitrary  rather  than  natural, 
but  they  are  not  enacted  by  any  legally  constituted  au- 
thority. They  are  the  result  of  convention  and  are 
drawn  from  the  usage  of  "  standard  writers,"  which  has 
been  generally  accepted  as  correct.  Hence  they  are  not 
only  violable,  but  are  in  many  instances  attended  with 
a  degree  of  uncertainty,  giving  rise  to  differences  of 
opinion  as  to  what  is  correct  usage.  Moreover,  they  are 
subject  to  material  change  from  time  to  time.  For 
example,  Shakespeare  and  the  Bible  present  many  in- 
stances of  the  double  negative,  in  modern  grammars 
universally  pronounced  incorrect. 

82 


English  Grammar  83 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  we  have  no  English  grammar. 
This,  though  an  extreme  statement,  has  a  certain  basis 
of  fact.  Along  the  old  lines  our  grammar  has  been  re- 
duced pretty  nearly  to  the  minimum.  The  bulk  of 
our  modern  grammar  is  to  a  considerable  degree  tradi- 
tional and  artificial.  It  is  made  up  of  more  or  less  vain 
attempts  to  make  it  appear  that  the  simpler  present-day 
forms  are  to  be  treated  like  the  complex  forms  they  have 
displaced.  The  great  modern  changes  in  our  language 
are  in  the  line  of  simplicity  and  economy.  Inflections 
have  well  nigh  disappeared  and  easier  means  of  express- 
ing variations  of  relation  have  succeeded  them. 

For  the  six  cases  of  the  Latin  and  the  five  of  the  Greek, 
to  show  the  relations  of  nouns,  we  have  two  forms  only. 
Instead  of  the  three  inflectional  voices  of  the  Greek  verb, 
ours  has  none,  the  relations  formerly  so  indicated  being 
expressed  wholly  by  the  use  of  additional  words.  Of  the 
six  modes  with  inflectional  forms  of  the  Greek  we  have 
two,  and  when  the  fast-disappearing  subjunctive  sleeps 
with  its  fathers,  we  shall  have  none. 

Whether  the  verbal  expressions  made  up  of  the  stem 
word  with  prepositions  or  auxiliaries  will  permanently  be 
classified  under  the  old  inflectional  names,  remains  to  be 
seen.  Probably,  as  the  present  tendency  is  decidedly 
toward  simplicity,  they  will  gradually  be  dropped.  In- 
deed this  is  to  be  hoped.  I  beheve  that  such  elimination 
would  mean  no  loss  whatever  to  the  English  language, 
or  to  the  student,  but  on  the  contrary  would  set  free  an 
immense  amount  of  energy  now  wasted  in  trying  to  fit  ob- 
solete or  obsolescent  names  to  new  and  more  virile  forms. 

As  a  matter  of  curiosity  let  us  see  what  inflectional 
forms  remain  to  us.     Of  the  regular  verb  there  are  these: 


84  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

love,  loves,  loved,  loving,  —  four.  Of  the  irregular 
verb  be :  be,  am,  is,  are,  was,  were,  being,  been,  — 
eight,  the  largest  number. 

Of  the  noun  :   boy,  boy's,  boys,  boys',  —  four. 

Of  the  adjectives  and  adverbs,  comparison  only. 
What  slight  material  is  this  for  the  building  of  a  gram- 
mar of  the  proportions  of  a  Greek  grammar,  with  its  five 
cases  of  nouns  in  each  of  the  three  numbers,  these  multi- 
plied by  three  genders  for  adjectives ;  its  three  voices  of 
verbs,  each  with  its  six  moods  consisting  of  six  tenses  of 
three  numbers  each  and  three  persons  to  each  number. 
Of  course  there  were  many  repetitions  among  these  forms, 
otherwise  even  the  Greek  mind  would  have  staggered 
underneath  the  load.  Theoretically  it  was  necessary  to 
have  nine  hundred  and  seventy-two  inflectional  forms  of 
a  regular  Greek  verb. 

Truly  the  power  of  tradition  is  mighty  among  us  that 
we  still  keep  above  ground  the  ghosts  of  so  many  of  these 
forms.  Still  for  the  present  we  must  teach,  and  children 
must  learn,  the  conventional  forms  and  be  thankful  that 
they  are  no  more  numerous. 

Functions  of  Grammar.  —  To  the  trained  adult  mind 
the  study  of  grammar  has  certain  higher  uses  which  may 
only  be  referred  to  here.  Grammar  bears  a  close  rela- 
tion to  both  history  and  philosophy.  The  grammar  of  a 
people  is  an  index  to  the  mode  of  mental  activity  peculiar 
to  that  people,  which  is,  naturally,  largely  responsible 
for  its  ideals,  its  philosophy,  and  its  achievements.  For 
example,  the  German  retains  many  inflections  that  have 
been  discarded  by  his  Hvelier  neighbors^  the  French  and 
the  English  speaking  races.  This  is  in  harmony  with  his 
natural  conservatism.    He  indulges  in  long  involved  sen- 


English  Grammar  85 

tences  with  the  key  word  left  for  the  end,  so  that  when, 
after  a  comfortable  ambling  through  the  intermediate 
words  and  phrases  he  at  last  utters  it,  he  has  the  thought 
complete,  well  rounded,  guarded  before  and  after.  His 
sentence  is  like  himself,  comfortable,  leisurely,  but  logical 
and  complete. 

The  Frenchman,  on  the  contrary,  rushes  headlong  to 
his  verbal  fate.  Not  seeing  the  end  from  the  beginning, 
he  utters  the  words  that  come  to  him,  as  fast  as  possible. 
When  he  reaches  the  end,  he  has  said  it  all,  it  is  true, 
but  without  the  substantial,  sure,  and  rounded  com- 
fortableness of  the  German.  For  that  very  reason  he  is 
more  brilliant,  more  surprising.  He  has  no  time  in  his 
verbal  "joy-riding  "  for  inflections,  so  he  has  cast  them 
nearly  all  away,  and  as  he  rushes  on  to  an  undetermined 
end  he  drops  epigrams  like  fireworks  to  dazzle  and  delight 
us.  His  work  and  his  sentence  are  expressions  of  himself. 
These  are  merely  patent  illustrations  of  the  association 
of  a  people's  grammar  with  its  psychology. 

Training  in  Logic.  —  But  grammar  has  its  own  direct 
uses  to  the  student  advanced  enough  properly  to  pursue 
the  subject.  Chief  among  these  is  his  training  in  logic. 
When  properly  studied,  it  leads  to  the  analysis  of  thought 
itself.  In  this  it  goes  far  beyond  the  language  lesson  as 
described  in  the  preceding  chapter.  In  grammar,  the 
sentence,  which  in  the  language  lesson  was  recognized 
as  a  whole,  by  appearance  and  manifest  function,  is 
recognized  by  structure  as  well.  The  faUible  judgment 
of  the  language  lesson  becomes  infallible.  The  thought 
also,  of  which  the  sentence  is  the  complete  expression, 
is  evidenced  by  structure.  The  beautiful  and  complete 
wedding  of  two  ideas  into  a  new  unit,  a  thought,  is  a 


86  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

revelation  of  perfect  logic,  of  the  greatest  value  to  a  matur- 
ing mind.  This  once  grasped,  his  own  speech  rests  upon 
a  new  and  firm  foundation  of  law.  The  vague  gives  place 
to  the  exact,  and  his  growth  in  language  power  keeps  pace 
with  his  natural  growth  of  body  and  soul. 

"  Consider  for  a  moment  what  grammar  is.  It  is  the 
most  elementary  part  of  logic.  It  is  the  beginning  of  the 
analysis  of  the  thinking  process.  The  principles  and 
rules  of  grammar  are  the  means  by  which  the  forms  of 
language  are  made  to  correspond  with  the  universal 
forms  of  thought.  The  distinctions  between  the  various 
parts  of  speech,  between  the  cases  of  nouns,  the  moods 
and  tenses  of  verbs,  the  functions  of  participles,  are  dis- 
tinctions in  thought,  not  merely  in  words.  Single  nouns 
and  verbs  express  objects  and  events,  many  of  which 
can  be  cognized  by  the  senses ;  but  the  modes  of  putting 
nouns  and  verbs  together  express  the  relations  of  objects 
and  events,  which  can  be  cognized  only  by  the  intellect ; 
and  each  different  mode  corresponds  to  a  different  re- 
lation. The  structure  of  every  sentence  is  a  lesson  in 
logic." — John  Stuart  Mill. 

Training  in  Appreciation.  —  The  study  of  grammar 
also  opens  the  eyes  of  the  student  to  many  of  the  excel- 
lencies of  admired  authors.  Through  his  knowledge 
of  the  structure  of  language  and  of  its  laws  he  is  able  to 
see  to  what  extent  and  how  the  art  of  literary  expression 
is  based  upon  science.  For  example,  style  is  often  de- 
pendent upon  an  author's  habitual  use  of  certain  gram- 
matical forms.  To  Irving's  use  of  the  long,  loose,  com- 
pound sentence  is  due,  in  part  at  least,  the  charming 
ease  of  his  narrative;  while  Victor  Hugo  produced  his 
pecuUar,  forceful  staccato  effect  by  employing  succes- 


English  Grammar  87 

sively  short,  almost  sharp,  simple  sentences.  Studying 
grammar  from  this  point  of  view  quickens  the  student's 
literary  appreciation  and  makes  him  a  more  intelligent 
reader. 

The  teaching  of  grammar  should  make  manifest  these 
various  functions  of  the  subject,  higher  as  well  as  lower, 
and  should  thus  make  it  a  broadening  and  enriching 
study,  and  not  merely  a  series  of  exercises  upon  arbitrary 
or  traditional  conventionaUties. 


CHAPTER  VII 

English  Grammar 
methods  of  instruction 

Grammar  for  Children,  —  In  discussing  method  in 
teaching  grammar  it  is  important  to  distinguish  between 
methods  profitable  for  adult  minds  and  those  suitable 
for  the  young  and  immature.  Abstruse  discussions  of 
grammatical  theory  and  the  making  of  fine  distinctions, 
especially  of  definition  and  nomenclature,  are  utterly 
futile  in  teaching  children.  Whether  the  word  "  when  " 
used  to  join  a  dependent  clause  to  its  principal  clause  is 
a  conjunctive  adverb  or  an  adverbial  conjunction  is  of 
no  moment  to  a  child.  The  important  thing  for  him  to 
know  is  function.  "  When  "  thus  used  performs  the 
office  of  a  conjunction  in  that  it  joins  clauses.  It  also 
imparts  an  adverbial  sense  to  the  dependent  clause. 
The  duality  of  function  is  all  a  child  needs  to  know. 

Treats  of  Function.  —  A  grammar  for  children,  that 
is,  for  the  grammar  school,  at  first  should  treat  chiefly 
of  function.  As  children  advance  in  maturity  the  study 
of  structure  should  follow  as  explaining  both  the  func- 
tions of  words  and  of  their  various  combinations  and 
also  the  laws  of  grammar. 

Grammar  is  of  necessity  an  abstract  study.  The 
thing  studied,  the  word  as  a  part  of  a  sentence,  is  at 
least  twice  removed  from  the  object  or  the  idea  that  it 


English  Grammar  89 

represents  and  which  alone  appeals  naturally  to  a  child. 
In  the  sentence,  "  Reading  maketh  a  full  man,"  reading 
is  to  be  studied  grammatically  as  a  verbal  noun  derived 
from  the  verb  read,  and  as  the  subject  of  the  sentence. 
To  the  child  reading  is  an  act.  The  word  reading 
as  the  name  of  the  act  is  once  removed,  from  the  act. 
Reading  as  a  noun  is  twice  removed  while  reading  as 
the  subject  of  the  sentence  is  still  further  removed. 
It  is  not  easy  for  an  adult  always  to  grasp  the  diffi- 
culty that  this  abstraction  presents  to  a  mind  still 
wholly  busied  with  enlarging  its  knowledge  of  the  mate- 
rial world.  Hence  grammars  for  children  should  advance 
very  slowly  into  this  unknown  world  of  metaphysics. 
The  function  of  a  word  in  expressing  an  idea  is  the 
phase  of  its  metaphysics  first  comprehensible  to  a  child. 
In  elementary  grammars  this  should  always  be  kept  to 
the  fore. 

Definitions.  —  From  this  point  of  view  many  grammars 
begin  at  the  wrong  end.  The  definition,  which  com- 
monly is  the  starting-point  in  each  topic,  should  be 
the  end.  In  pure  science  the  definition  is  the  conclusion 
of  observation  and  generalization.  It  is  the  sum  of  the 
essential  knowledge  of  a  subject  stated  in  the  most 
succinct  form.  A  full,  complete  definition  is  the  end  of 
knowledge.  It  can  be  comprehended  only  by  those  who 
know  exactly  the  meanings  of  all  the  terms  used  in  it. 
The  scientific  definition  of  the  Chambered  Nautilus, 
Tetrahranchiate  Cephalopod,  to  the  scientist  is  full  of 
meaning.  It  places  the  animal  exactly  among  all  the 
animals  of  the  world.  But  to  the  child  who  knows  the 
meaning  of  neither  tetrahranchiate  nor  cephalopod,  it 
s  sheer  nonsense.     Yet  a  child  can  know  many  inter- 


90  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

esting  facts  about  the  creature  and  can  even  enjoy 
Dr.  Holmes'  beautiful  poem. 

Definitions  Difficult.  —  Moreover,  in  grammar  the 
definitions  present  unusual  difficulties  to  the  immature 
mind.  The  fact  that  grammar  is  not  an  exact  science, 
but  is  based  upon  opinion  and  usage,  increases  the  diffi- 
culty. It  makes  it  necessary  to  defme  largely  by  func- 
tion, and  yet  as  some  words  have  many  functions,  a 
brief  but  comprehensive  statement  even  of  functions 
becomes  in  such  cases  practically  impossible. 

This  difficulty  is  made  evident  by  attempts  to  define 
even  the  most  common  terms,  such  as  verb,  adjective, 
transitive  verb,  sentence.  The  only  possible  complete 
definition  of  a  verb  is  beyond  the  comprehension  of  most 
children  in  grammar  schools.  Following  the  Century 
Dictionary,  "  A  verb  is  a  word  whose  function  is  pred- 
ication." It  is  difficult  to  put  this  into  any  form  com- 
prehensible to  children.  Hence  the  authors  of  most 
grammars  content  themselves  with  stating  a  single  func- 
tion and  leave  the  others  to  the  imagination,  or  to  the 
teacher.  Of  course,  such  a  statement  is  not  a  definition 
at  all.  For  example,  the  most  common  definition  of 
a  verb  is  "  a  word  that  states,"  which,  of  course,  excludes 
the  question  and  the  command,  and  hence  is  inexact. 

"  Transitive  verb "  is  practically  indefinable  to  a 
child. 

Indeed,  the  noun  is  almost  the  only  part  of  speech  that 
can  be  exactly  defined  in  terms  that  children  can  readily 
understand, 

I  have  dwelt  upon  this  matter  of  definition  because 
it  is  the  bugbear  of  children,  and  when  taught  at  the 
beginning  of  a  topic,  as  is  the  usual  way,  presents  to  the 


English  Grammar  91 

young  student  no  adequate  compensation  for  his  toil. 
Even  the  child  who  has  laboriously  memorized  it  is  placed 
in  possession  of  no  knowledge  that  is  either  exact  or 
useful.  But  the  functions  of  words  and  of  groups  of 
words  may  be  so  taught  in  the  grammar  school  as  to  give 
knowledge  that  is  not  only  exact  but  also  useful. 

Teaching  should  be  Inductive.  —  It  is  evident  from 
the  above  that  the  method  of  teaching  definitions  and 
principles,  when  the  time  has  arrived  for  teaching  them, 
should  be  scientific,  that  is,  inductive.  Every  fact  that 
may  enter  into  a  subsequent  definition  or  statement  of 
principle  should  first  be  observed  in  good  literature,  so 
that  the  final  statement  may  be  induced  from  the  results 
of  observation. 

Definitions  stated  baldly  to  children,  if  learned  at 
all,  are  memorized  as  words  merely,  without  thought. 
They  become  meaningless  rigmarole.  This  truth  has 
long  been  accepted  for  all  the  physical  sciences,  but  in 
teaching  grammar  we  have  been  very  slow  in  coming 
to  it. 

Logic  of  Old  Grammars.  —  In  the  older  grammars  the 
treatment  was  indeed  logical,  in  a  poor  sense,  but  without 
regard  either  to  the  interest  or  to  the  capabiUties  of  the 
learner.  Hence  the  blackness  of  darkness  that  comes 
over  the  imagination  when  memory  transports  us  to  the 
grammar  class  of  our  school  days. 

The  plan  pursued  was  in  the  main  synthetic,  until 
"  parsing  "  and  "  sentential  analysis  "  were  reached. 
The  books  were  divided  into  four  parts,  orthography, 
etymology,  syntax,  and  prosody.  A  fifth,  sometimes 
introduced  after  orthography,  was  orthoepy,  more  often 
treated  as  a  branch  of  the  former  subject.     We  began 


92  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

with  letters,  then  we  built  them  into  words,  then  we 
learned  to  pronounce  the  words,  then  we  studied  the 
inflections  and  derivations  of  words.  Finally,  we  made 
sentences  of  them.  Then  we  turned  about  and  tore  down 
the  sentences  that  we  or  other  authors  had  built  up,  and 
studied  the  parts  —  analyzed  the  sentences,  and  parsed 
the  words. 

Through  it  all,  thought  was  kept  in  the  background. 
The  words  and  combinations  of  words  were  studied  with 
reference,  not  to  the  thought  they  expressed,  but  to  their 
mechanical  arrangement.  It  was  the  study  of  a  pur- 
poseless puzzle  with  the  play  element  left  out. 

The  Use  of  the  Diagram.  —  Then  some  bright  genius 
discovered  that  the  solution  of  this  mechanical  puzzle 
could  be  assisted  by  the  use  of  a  mechanical  device,  — 
this  is  the  age  of  machinery, — and  the  "  diagram  "  came 
into  being.  From  the  point  of  view  held,  it  was  a  useful 
device.  The  "  hanging  of  the  words  on  hooks,"  as 
Colonel  Parker  used  to  call  it,  furnished  something  of  the 
play  element  before  lacking  in  the  mechanical  manipu- 
lation of  sentences.  But  it  took  the  child  Httle  nearer 
to  the  thought  expressed  by  the  words.  Indeed,  too 
often  it  served  as  a  further  diversion  and  rendered  it 
well  nigh  impossible  ever  to  get  back  to  the  thought. 

Many  and  many  a  Kterary  gem  has  been  forever  spoiled 
to  the  student  by  these  mechanical  processes  of  parsing, 
analyzing,  and  diagraming.  It  would  be  an  interesting 
investigation  to  inquire  by  how  many  "  Paradise  Lost  " 
has  been  all  their  lives  regarded  with  dread,  because  of 
its  use  as  a  subject  for  parsing.  Analysis,  as  has  been 
said,  too  often  was  analysis  not  of  the  thought,  but  of 
the  mechanical  arrangement  of  words.     Parsing  was  not 


English  Grammar  93 

ascertaining  just  what  part  the  individual  words  served 
in  expressing  the  thought  of  the  sentence,  but  was  the 
arranging  of  a  purely  mechanical  schedule  of  relations 
for  the  words  themselves. 

Analysis  of  an  author's  sentences,  to  get  at  his  meaning 
and  to  see  how  he  has  utiUzed  his  verbal  materials  in 
expressing  his  meaning,  is  dealing  with  a  living  subject, 
not  a  dead  one. 

Method  in  teaching  Grammar.  —  How,  then,  should 
grammar  be  taught  to  secure  to  children  its  real  values, 
—  ability  better  to  understand  literature,  ability  to  judge 
of  the  correctness  of  their  own  language,  and  abiUty  to 
think  clearly? 

Begin  with  the  Sentence.  —  The  approach  should  be 
by  way  of  the  sentence  rather  than  of  the  letter  or  the 
word.  Fortunately  this  approach  has  been  adopted  by 
most  modern  grammars.  It  is  a  step  toward  the  sane 
teaching  of  the  subject.  The  sentence  expresses  the 
thought,  and  hence  makes  an  immediate  appeal  to  the 
children,  whereas  the  minor  elements,  —  the  words  or  let- 
ters, —  expressing  single  ideas  or  fragments  of  thought 
when  used  out  of  association,  make  no  such  appeal.  The 
letter  b  alone  means  little.  As  an  element  in  the  word 
blue  it  has  acquired  some  meaning,  but  still  very  little 
for  a  child.  Blue,  as  the  name  of  an  abstract  color, 
means  a  little  more  than  b.  Blue  sky  begins  to  convey 
a  positive  impression.  But  in  "  The  sky  is  blue,"  we 
first  come  to  a  holding  thought,  and  here,  too,  the  words 
first  get  their  real  force. 

An  adult  possessing  all  the  elementary  knowledge  can 
turn  again  upon  the  elements  of  expression  and  find  an 
interest  in  the  abstract  study  of  them.     Not  so  the  child. 


94  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

He  must  have  the  larger  interest  to  carry  the  smaller. 
Interest  him  in  the  thought,  and  he  will  with  profit  study 
the  tools  of  expression.  But  without  that  interest,  his 
study  of  the  tools  is  futile.  Even  if  he  is  able  to  acquire 
some  knowledge  of  the  way  they  work,  his  time  spent 
in  the  acquisition  is  wasted.  There  are  more  important 
things  for  him  to  do  than  to  study  a  telescope  that  he 
cannot  look  through.  In  these  days  of  complaint  of 
overcrowded  curricula,  economy  of  time  is  a  serious  de- 
mand. We  have  no  right  to  spend  the  time  of  children 
upon  purely  disciplinary  studies,  without  valuable  con- 
tent, while  there  are  so  many  subjects  offering  equal  dis- 
cipline that  include  real  knowledge.  Grammar  may  be 
given  a  valuable  content  even  to  children  by  approach- 
ing it  through  sentences  that  express  thoughts  interest- 
ing to  them. 

Subject  and  Predicate.  —  A  sentence  is  a  union  of 
subject  and  predicate  to  express  a  thought.  Hence 
these  two  main  elements  of  a  sentence  must  be  studied. 
The  union  and  separation  of  many  subjects  and  predi- 
cates, simple  and  complex,  long  and  short,  should  make 
clear  to  the  children,  not  merely  the  formal  and  mechani- 
cal construction  of  the  sentence,  but  the  essential  ele- 
ments of  thought  itself.  They  should  see  that  not 
merely  is  a  sentence  made  up  of  subject  and  predicate, 
but  that  a  thought  is  made  up  of  these  two  elements; 
that  they  do  not  think  clearly  unless  they  can  state 
their  thoughts  in  terms  of  subject  and  predicate. 

This  exercise  may  well  be  followed  by  a  reversal  of  the 
process,  a  synthesis  of  sentences  from  the  elements. 
This  can  easily  be  made  into  an  interesting  game.  The 
sentences  should  be  chosen  from  well-known  proverbs 


English  Grammar  95 

or  verses,  so  that  the  difficulty  may  not  be  too  great. 
Then  the  subjects  and  predicates  should  be  written  sep- 
arately, but  not  in  the  same  order.  The  exercise  con- 
sists in  putting  the  parts  together  properly.  Thus  such 
proverbs  as : 

Birds  of  a  feather  flock  together. 
A  rolling  stone  gathers  no  moss. 
The  race  is  not  always  to  the  swift. 
Wisdom  is  better  than  rubies. 

and  many  more  may  be  written  in  two  columns. 

Birds  of  a  feather  is  not  always  to  the  swift. 

Wisdom  gathers  no  moss. 

The  race  flocks  together. 

A  rolling  stone  is  better  than  rubies. 

The  children  should  then  make  the  correct  connections 
and  write  out  the  sentences.  The  exercises  should 
include  complex  sentences  as  well  as  simple  ones. 

After  the  component  parts  of  a  full  thought,  as  mani- 
fested in  the  sentence,  have  been  impressed  upon  the 
children  beyond  the  possibihty  of  loss,  then  is  the  time 
to  separate  the  simple  subject  and  predicate  from  their 
modifiers.  This  should  be  done  at  first  without  dwelKng 
upon  any  other  fact  than  that  the  various  modifiers  add 
to  or  change  the  meanings  of  subject  or  predicate. 
Thus,  "  The  slothful  man  saith, '  there  is  a  lion  without,'  " 
can  be  readily  reduced  to  man  saith.  A  class  will  see  the 
incompleteness  of  this  as  an  expression  of  thought,  and 
will  readily  grasp  the  meaning  that  the  and  slothful  add 
a  meaning  to  man,  and  that  "  there  is  a  lion  without  " 
is  necessary  to  complete  the  thought  —  to  tell  what  the 


96  What  Children  Study  and  Why- 

slothful  man  saith.  Similar  synthetic  exercises  to  those 
proposed  in  connection  with  the  first  analysis  may  be 
used  here  also  with  profit. 

When  these  fundamental  ideas  of  subject,  predicate, 
and  modifiers  have  been  taught  fully,  then  is  the  proper 
time  to  study  the  parts  of  speech.  To  postpone  this 
study  until  the  sentence  has  received  final  treatment  is 
in  violation  of  both  logic  and  psychology. 

Parts  of  Speech.  —  What  do  we  mean  by  a  "  part 
of  speech  "  ?  Why  are  words  classified  as  "  parts  of 
speech  "  ?  Simply  because  in  grammar  they  have  no 
meaning  save  as  parts  of  speech.  Speech  stands  for 
expression  of  thought  in  words.  The  unit  of  expression 
is  the  sentence.  So  when  you  speak  of  a  "  part  of 
speech  "  you  mean  necessarily  a  part  of  a  sentence. 
That  is,  a  word  considered  grammatically  is  merely  the 
expression  of  a  part  of  a  thought.  With  the  exceptions 
of  the  noun  used  in  address,  and  the  interjection,  which 
is  not  properly  a  part  of  speech  at  all,  but  is  merely  an 
explosive  and  thoughtless  expression  of  feehng,  a  word 
cannot  be  used  sensibly  except  as  a  part  of  a  sentence 
expressed  or  impHed.  Hence,  naturally,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  noun,  the  part  of  speech  cannot  be  intelli- 
gently studied  until  after  the  nature  of  a  sentence  has 
been  made  plain. 

Study  of  Relation.  —  The  parts  of  speech  should  be 
studied  as  to  their  functions  in  the  sentence,  and  as  these 
functions  are  modified  by  the  relations  indicated,  these 
relations  must  be  studied  at  the  same  time,  in  order 
to  make  plain  the  functions,  and  hence  the  meanings, 
of  the  parts  of  speech  themselves.  As  the  relations  of 
words  are  in  many  instances  shown  by  inflections,  it 


English  Grammar  97 

follows  that  inflections  must  be  taught  as  incidental 
to  the  study  of  relations. 

For  example,  in  the  sentence,  "Longfellow's  home  was 
in  Cambridge,"  it  is  not  enough  to  know  that  Longfellow 
is  a  name.  That  indicates  only  a  part  of  the  function  of 
the  word.  Its  relation  to  another  noun,  home,  must  be 
made  clear.  As  this  relation  is  indicated  by  the  pos- 
sessive ending  '5,  naturally  inflection  must  be  taught 
as  related  to  function.  That  is,  we  cannot  understand 
all  the  functions  of  words  until  we  know  how  they  are 
modified  in  form  to  express  relation. 

It  is  manifest  then  that  both  logic  and  psychology  re- 
quire that  grammar  be  studied  by  beginners  in  this  order 
—  first,  the  sentence  analyzed  into  subject  and  predicate, 
and,  second,  a  brief  consideration  of  modifiers ;  then, 
third,  the  parts  of  speech,  as  parts  of  the  sentence, 
their  relations  and  inflections. 

Beyond  this  the  order  is  of  less  consequence,  as  the 
students  will  have  such  a  fundamental  knowledge  as  will 
enable  them  to  take  up  more  difficult  phases  of  the  sub- 
ject in  the  order  of  natural  interest.  Usually  there  will 
be  a  return  to  the  sentence  and  a  more  minute  analysis 
of  it.  In  particular  there  should  be  a  thorough  study 
of  complex  and  compound  sentences  and  of  clauses  and 
phrases,  which  fill  the  functions  of  parts  of  speech. 

This  includes  all  of  technical  grammar  that  is  profitable 
for  the  pupils  of  the  grammar  school,  and  this  is  not 
profitable  if  studied  with  any  other  purpose  than  that 
of  making  function  manifest.  Thought  must  always 
be  to  the  fore.  The  instruction  in  the  forms  and  the 
relations  of  words  must  never  degenerate  into  a  study 
of  mere  verbal  mechanics. 


98  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

Thought-compelling  Material.  —  To  that  end  it  is  of 
the  utmost  importance  that  the  material  used  be  thought- 
compelling  material,  so  that  the  pupil  cannot  escape  the 
feeling  that  he  is  studying  the  expression  of  thought.  Of 
course,  if  the  study  is  to  be  merely  the  study  of  mechan- 
ical relations,  it  is  little  less  than  sacrilege  to  use  good 
Uterature  for  that  end.  If,  however,  the  study  is  always 
of  thought,  the  better  the  thought,  the  more  valuable 
the  study. 

It  is  disheartening  to  think  of  boys  and  girls  spending 
their  time  in  school  learning  that  '*  the  big  bulldog  in  Mr. 
Smith's  yard  barked,"  or  that  "  donkeys  bray,"  especially 
when  we  must  believe  that  while  they  are  learning  those 
startling  truths  they  are  learning  other  facts  no  less  useless. 

Along  with  the  technical  study  should  go  studies  in 
literature  showing  how  closely  the  structure  of  sentences 
is  related  to  the  character  of  the  thought  expressed, 
how  a  Hterary  artist  of  necessity  bases  his  art  upon  the 
science  of  grammar.  This  gives  the  study  of  grammar 
a  motive  that  appeals  to  the  children  as  no  mere  formal 
study  of  structure  can  do. 

Whenever  it  will  serve  the  purpose  of  clear  illustration, 
connected  discourse,  such  as  a  complete  story  or  de- 
scription, should  be  used  instead  of  isolated  sentences. 
The  greater  interest  carries  the  less.  This  is  a  great 
psychological  principle  too  often  ignored.  If  a  study  of 
grammar  is  a  study  of  the  laws  of  thought  in  expres- 
sion, and  if  the  aim  is  to  train  children,  both  to  com- 
prehend the  expressed  thought  of  others  and  to  think 
logically  themselves,  then  it  is  worth  while  to  study 
these  laws  as  shown  in  the  works  of  thinkers  who  were 
also  artists  in  expression. 


English  Grammar  99 

It  is  of  vastly  greater  value  to  a  class  to  search  a  de- 
scription by  Hawthorne  that  has  interested  and  charmed 
them,  and  find  the  grammatical  forms  that  have  made  the 
description  possible  and  given  it  its  clearness  and  beauty, 
than  to  find  these  same  forms  in  disconnected  sentences 
containing  little  thought  and  no  interest.  Moreover, 
the  memory  of  the  description  or  story  will  hold  that  of 
the  grammatical  forms,  which  otherwise  would  soon  be 
forgotten. 

The  method  of  teaching  grammar  to  older  students 
is  omitted  from  this  book  as  not  germane  to  its  purpose. 
Naturally  it  would  differ  in  many  respects  from  that  out- 
lined above. 

Resume.  —  Grammar  is  the  science  of  language.  The 
chief  aims  of  teaching  this  science  are  to  develop  critical 
power,  to  furnish  a  corrective  of  speech,  and  to  train  to 
logical  and  clear  thinking. 

All  principles  and  definitions  should  be  developed  by 
induction  and  never  baldly  stated.  The  more  abstruse 
topics  and  the  finer  distinctions  should  be  omitted  from 
an  elementary  grammar. 

The  method  of  instruction  should  require  the  analysis 
of  thought  rather  than  the  discovery  of  conventional  rela- 
tions of  words,  and  of  structure  as  related  to  thought. 
To  this  end  the  material  used  should  be  drawn  from  good 
literature  and  should  be  thought-compeUing,  since  the 
greater  interest  carries  the  less.  This  Hterature  should  be 
treated  respectfully  with  a  view  to  a  better  understand- 
ing of  it  through  a  knowledge  of  grammar. 


CHAPTER   Vin 
Spelling 

English  spelling  is  "  peculiar."  It  obeys  no  laws,  fol- 
lows few  principles.  It  is  a  strange  medley  of  the  labors 
of  philologists,  pseudo-philologists,  ignorant  printers,  and 
equally  ignorant  writers  who  have  attempted  to  follow 
some  real  or  imaginary  auditory  analogy.  It  is  a  mass 
of  conventions  resting  upon  no  rhyme  or  reason. 

Learning  to  spell  is  one  of  the  immutable  requirements 
of  the  school.  By  success  in  teaching  spelHng  the  school 
is  judged,  to  a  very  large  degree.  Yet  the  educational 
value  of  learning  to  spell  is  so  slight  as  to  be  negligible. 
Spelling  according  to  convention  satisfies  no  psycho- 
logical need,  no  spiritual  craving,  no  aspiration.  The 
economic  value  of  spelling  is  arbitrary  and  artificial. 
It  adds  not  a  cent's  worth  to  the  world's  wealth.  Yet, 
teach  it  we  must.  Spelling  well  is  much  hke  wearing 
modish  garments;  it  has  much  to  do  with  fixing  one's 
place  in  the  world  of  educated  people.  At  least  a  lack 
of  it  at  once  places  one  among  the  ignorant. 

These  facts  are  so  patent  and  so  widely  recognized  that 
we  have  the  Reformed  Spelling  Board  maintained  by  the 
benefaction  of  a  great  "  gift  giver."  The  aim  of  this 
Board  is  to  simpHfy  spelling  by  removing  some  of  its 
worst  absurdities,  but  unfortunately  their  efi'orts  thus 
far  do  not  offer  much  hope  of  a  scientific  solution  of 
the  problem.     The  changes  suggested  by  them  are  so 


Spelling  lOl 

scattered  that  in  the  eyes  of  a  disinterested  observer  they 
seem  to  add  to  the  comphcations  by  giving  new  forms 
to  learn,  without  such  an  exact  classification  as  to  enable 
us  to  use  them,  except  by  a  sheer  act  of  unaided  memory 
in  the  case  of  each  change  suggested.  The  best  that  can 
be  said  of  their  efforts  thus  far  is  that  they  show  good 
intentions. 

So,  for  the  present  at  least,  and  doubtless  for  a  long 
time  to  come,  the  children  in  school  must  go  on  learning 
to  spell  the  old  forms,  and  the  question  for  the  teacher 
still  is  how  to  teach  this  conventional  art  most  effectively 
in  the  shortest  time. 

There  is  little  to  aid  in  this.  There  are  almost  no 
rules  of  spelling  that  are  even  moderately  reliable. 
Attempts  to  teach  spelling  by  rule  simply  add  to  the 
child's  troubles.  A  few  analogies  may  be  followed,  but 
with  timid  steps  for  fear  of  the  many  pitfalls.  The  sole 
reliance  is  memory,  and  the  sole  aid  is  found  in  obeying  "^ 
the  general  laws  of  memory,  such  as  association  of  ideas,  | 
interest,  vividness  of  impression,  repetition,  recency. 

Words  that  have  no  meaning  to  the  children,  and  taught 
without  relation,  are  sure  to  be  forgotten,  except  by  those 
rare  persons  who  have  a  "  gift  "  for  spelling.  And  it  is 
often  the  case  that  this  peculiar  gift  is  possessed  by  those 
having  httle  intellectual  power  of  any  other  sort. 

The  late  Superintendent  B.C.  Gregory,  as  the  result  of 
a  series  of  very  interesting  observations,^  showed  clearly 
that  children  most  frequently  misspell  the  common 
words  which  they  have  first  learned  by  ear.  This  is  nat- 
ural enough,  in  view  of  the  irregularities  of  our  spelling, 
and  the  lack  of  agreement  between  the  written  form  and 

*" Better  Schools,"  page  169  ff. 


102  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

its  phonic  equivalent.  When  the  word  is  learned  first 
from  the  printed  page,  it  is  much  more  likely  to  be  spelled 
correctly.  The  reason  is  obvious.  Hence  especial  em- 
phasis should  be  placed  upon  the  spelling  of  colloquial 
words. 

Spelling  is  altogether  a  writing  exercise.  From  this  a 
natural  inference  would  be  that  spelling  should  be  learned 
by  writing  only.  But  this  is  not  the  fact.  Although  the 
English  language  is  by  no  means  phonic  in  its  written 
structure,  still  there  is  a  close  association  between  oral 
and  written  spelling,  so  that  the  oral  exercise  supple- 
ments the  written,  often  with  very  great  advantage. 

There  are,  however,  wide  differences  among  people 
in  this  regard.  The  famihar  terms  "  ear-minded " 
and  "  eye-minded  "  indicate  this.  Some  are  particularly 
sensitive  to  auditory  impressions,  others  to  visual. 
This  has,  however,  nothing  to  do  with  phonics.  It 
simply  means  that  some  children  will  remember  the  com- 
ponent letters  of  a  word  more  surely,  and  hence  will  be 
able  to  write  the  word  more  accurately,  if  they  have  first 
spelled  it  aloud.  Some,  before  writing  a  doubtful  word, 
will  fortify  themselves  by  repeating  the  letters  "  to  them- 
selves." With  others  the  visual  impression  is  sufficient 
and  the  oral  speUing  seems  only  to  confuse  them. 

This  effect  of  speaking  the  letters,  either  aloud  or 
silently,  is  probably  due  more  to  muscular  memory  than 
to  sounds.  This  same  muscular  memory  extends  to  the 
hands  and  arms  and  other  muscles  used  in  writing  and 
results  in  a  form  of  muscular  habit  which  enables  the 
educated  adult  to  write  words  correctly,  without  thinking 
of  the  spelling  and  even  without  consciously  seeing  it. 
These  facts  must  be  borne  in  mind  in  teaching  spelling. 


CHAPTER  IX 
Spelling 

methods  of  instruction 

How  then  may  children  be  so  taught  as  to  make  the 
correct  spelhng  of  ordinary  well-known  words  automatic, 
without  wasting  time  that  is  needed  for  more  important 
matters  ? 

There  is  no  royal  road.  The  ordinary  person  learns  to 
spell  through  a  sheer  act  of  memory.  Hence  the  effective 
teaching  of  spelling  must  be  secured  through  obedience 
to  the  laws  of  memory.  The  first  and  most  important 
of  these  is  the  law  of  "  The  Association  of  Ideas."  The 
speUing  of  words  is  more  easily  remembered  if  the  words 
themselves  are  so  used  in  relation  to  ideas  that  they  leave 
a  distinct  impression.  It  is  easier  to  remember  the  spell- 
ing of  words  used  in  interesting  sentences  and  paragraphs 
than  of  words  learned  in  "  lists  "  without  relation. 

Next  to  the  association  of  ideas,  the  most  important 
of  the  laws  of  memory  for  the  teaching  of  spelling  is 
vividness  of  impression.  The  sequence  of  letters  in  a 
word  to  be  spelled  should  be  burned  into  the  mind. 
Various  means  and  devices  may  be  used  to  effect  this. 

Hard  words,  words  Hkely  to  be  misspelled,  should  be 
spelled  both  orally  and  in  writing:  orally,  to  secure  the 
right  habit  of  feeHng  of  the  muscles  used  in  speaking, 
—  this  is  especially  important  for  those  children  who  speak 
the  letters  to    themselves    while  speUing;    in  writing, 

103 


I04  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

because  it  is  in  writing  that  the  final  test  comes.  If  we 
used  speech  orally  only,  we  should  have  no  spelling  at  all. 

But  before  spelling  in  any  way,  care  should  be  exercised 
to  secure  close  attention  to  the  word  as  correctly  spelled. 
Most  people  misspell  words  because  they  have  not  looked 
at  them  sharply  enough  to  make  sure  of  the  letters  used 
or  of  their  order. 

If  the  word  in  itself  is  interesting  and  conveys  some 
idea  that^holds  the  attention,  it  is  easier  to  secure  correct 
spelling,  especially  if  it  is  a  word  not  known  colloquially. 
But  even  in  such  a  case,  it  is  frequently  necessary  to  make 
an  especial  effort  to  focus  undivided  attention  upon  the 
spelling  itself. 

Among  the  many  possible  de\aces  that  may  be  used 
to  this  end,  I  will  mention  but  one,  which  has  been  used 
in  different  places  with  much  success.  It  is  a  black- 
board exercise,  the  entire  class  being  at  the  board. 
It  may,  however,  be  modified,  if  the  blackboards  have 
not  room  enough  for  all,  by  having  some  pupils  work  at 
their  desks. 

The  teacher  writes  a  word  on  the  board.  The  class  all 
look  at  it  for  a  brief  space  of  time.  Then  the  teacher 
erases  the  word.  The  class  turn  and  write  it.  The 
teacher  inspects  the  work.  If  any  are  in  error,  the  error 
is  not  pointed  out,  but  all  are  told  to  erase.  The  teacher 
again  writes  the  word  and  erases.  All  spell  it.  This  is 
continued  until  all  have  spelled  correctly.  This  secures 
close  attention  and  confidence,  as  the  children  are  not 
told  whether  they  have  erred  or  not ;  and  it  also  results  in 
permanence  of  impression.  It  is  an  excellent  device  for 
correcting  carelessness  of  observation,  which  is  at  the 
bottom  of  most  bad  spelling. 


spelling  105 

Should  spelling  books  be  used,  and  if  so,  how  ? 

If  all  teachers  had  plenty  of  time  and  the  necessary 
judgment  properly  to  select  and  arrange  words  taken  from 
the  other  school  subjects,  these  words  would  furnish 
nearly  all  the  spelHng  lessons  needed.  The  written  les- 
sons themselves  supply  the  best  spelUng  exercises,  espe- 
cially if  followed  by  rigid  drill  upon  words  misspelled. 
But  unfortunately  the  average  teacher  has  neither  the 
time  nor  the  training  necessary  to  the  preparation  of 
adequate  lists  of  words  to  be  spelled. 

Some  years  ago  the  spelling  book  became  unpopular 
and  bade  fair  to  fall  into  desuetude.  In  many  places 
it  disappeared  altogether  and  the  sole  reUance  was  placed 
upon  the  speUing  required  for  the  written  work  of  the 
school.  Here  and  there  an  exceptional  teacher  succeeded 
remarkably  well.  But,  generally,  the  effort  was  not 
successful.  Lists  were  neglected  or  carelessly  prepared. 
In  written  work  upon  other  subjects,  the  attention  was 
so  taken  with  other  matters  that  spelling  was  often  over- 
looked. Even  in  the  best  schools  it  was  found  that  many 
important  words  did  not  occur  in  the  regular  written 
work.  Hence  there  has  been  a  general  return  to  the 
spelling  book,  and  of  necessity ;  not,  however,  to  take  the 
place  of  the  careful  attention  to  spelling  in  all  written 
exercises,  but  to  supplement  it,  and  emphasize  it.  It  is 
found  that  intensive  study  is  necessary;  therefore  the 
spelling  book  is  bound  still  to  be  the  symbol  of  the 
elementary  school. 

But  there  are  spelling  books  and  spelling  books,  books 
with  all  conceivable  plans  of  association,  and  books  with 
no  plan  at  all.  In  general,  those  books  are  the  most 
helpful  in  which  words  are  grouped  according  to  some 


Io6  What  Children  Study  and  Why- 

manifest  relation  of  ideas.  Phonic  relations,  of  all,  are 
of  the  least  consequence  because  of  the  irregularity  of  the 
phonic  elements  of  our  language. 

Words  may  be  grouped  more  profitably  according  to 
similarity  of  meaning  or  function ;  as,  for  example,  words 
expressing  time,  days  of  the  week,  months,  seasons ; 
words  descriptive  of  color,  or  sound,  or  landscapes,  or 
farm  life,  or  city  life.  Good  groups  may  be  made  of 
synonyms,  of  the  various  inflectional  forms  of  verbs,  of 
certain  classes  of  derivatives.  Except  for  review  exer- 
cises and  for  occasional  drill,  sentences,  paragraphs,  or 
short  Hterary  selections  having  an  interesting  content 
make  the  best  spelling  lessons. 

But  teachers  have  to  use  spelling  books,  not  make  them, 
and  they  must  make  the  best  of  those  furnished,  supple- 
menting them  by  exercises  drawn  from  the  other  school 
work,  or  better,  supplementing  careful  attention  to  the 
spelHng  in  ordinary  written  exercises  by  a  discriminating 
use  of  the  spelling  book. 

Dr.  J.  M.  Rice,  in  a  series  of  articles  in  The  Fortwt, 
gave  the  results  of  tests  in  spelling  made  in  many  schools 
upon  thousands  of  children.  While  these  experiments  did 
not  solve  many  of  the  mooted  questions,  they  did  throw 
interesting  light  upon  the  problem  as  a  whole.  Perhaps 
the  most  important  contribution  of  Dr.  Rice  to  the  sub- 
ject was  the  evidence  that  in  teaching  spelling  method 
made  very  little  difference,  and  that  beyond  a  small 
minimum  the  amount  of  time  spent  had  very  little  to  do 
with  the  results.  Children  who  spelled  ten  minutes  a 
day  showed  as  great  efficiency  as  those  who  spelled  forty. 
The  most  important  factor  appeared  to  be  the  qual- 
ity  of   the   teaching.     The    reasons   why   time   is    so 


Spelling  107 

negligible  a  factor  were  psychological,  and  cannot  be 
entered  into  here.  As  a  whole  this  experiment  forced 
the  conclusion  that  intensity  of  attention  and  systematic 
organization  were  the  most  important  elements  in  the 
teaching  of  spelling. 

Whatever  the  devices  or  methods  used,  we  cannot  get 
away  from  the  fact  that  spelling  rests  upon  memory, 
unaided  except  by  the  laws  of  memory. 


CHAPTER  X 

Arithmetic 

Meaning  of  Arithmetic.  —  Arithmetic  is  the  key  to  an 
exact  knowledge  of  the  physical  universe  and  to  many  of 
the  relations  of  man  to  man.  It  is  commonly  defined  as 
"  The  Science  of  Numbers."  Considering  the  subject 
abstractly  as  an  exact  science,  this  definition  is  of  course 
correct. 

Arithmetic  as  taught  in  schools  is  a  somewhat  promis- 
cuous aggregation  of  topics  all  treating  more  or  less 
fully  of  number  in  the  abstract,  or  of  some  one  or  more 
of  its  appHcations,  either  to  the  physical  world  or  to  the 
affairs  of  life.  In  general  its  function  is  to  acquaint  the 
young  student  with  the  more  prominent  characteristics 
of  abstract  number  and  of  number  relations,  with  the 
prevaiHng  system  of  numeration,  and  with  a  few  of  the 
most  important  practical  applications  of  number  to  hu- 
man needs.  It  also  seeks  to  make  clear,  to  a  very  limited 
degree,  the  numerical  basis  of  the  physical  world. 

The  treatment  of  abstract  number  and  number  rela- 
tions in  our  school  system  is  found  in  such  elementary 
work  as  counting  and  the  study  of  the  four  fundamental 
principles,  in  the  consideration  of  the  nature  of  factors 
and  multipliers  and  of  fractions  and  of  powers  and  roots. 
The  prevailing  system  of  numeration  is  learned  abstractly, 
first  as  applied  to  whole  numbers  and  decimals,  and 
afterward  through  its  use  in  expressing  all  numerical 

io8 


Arithmetic  109 

characteristics  and  relations.  The  application  of  num- 
ber to  the  affairs  of  men  is  taught  by  means  of  various 
problems,  following  the  treatment  of  each  phase  of  ab- 
stract number,  and  especially  in  those  parts  of  the  text- 
book devoted  to  imaginary  business  transactions.  The 
consideration  of  number  as  the  key  to  the  physical  uni- 
verse is  found  in  the  study  of  form  and  dimension,  espe- 
cially under  such  headings  as,  "  Denominate  Numbers," 
and  "  Mensuration." 

Numeration  the  Basis  of  Thinking.  Fundamental 
Principles.  —  (i)  Numeration  lies  at  the  foundation  of 
tliinking.  The  absolute  basis  of  thought  is  compari- 
son of  ideas.  Such  comparison  is  impossible  without 
at  least  a  rudimentary  conception  of  number.  I  can- 
not think  an  absolutely  solitary  unit.  To  the  idea  in 
contemplation  my  own  personality  is  added,  and  almost 
invariably  at  least  one  other  object  enters  into  the 
comparison.  If  all  objects,  ourselves  included,  were 
spherical,  we  could  have  no  conception  of  a  sphere.  It 
is  only  by  contrasting  that  particular  form  with  other 
forms  that  we  can  know  it.  So  we  must  know  more 
than  one,  as  more  than  one,  in  order  to   think  at  all. 

Probably  the  maximum  number  that  can  be  compre- 
hended from  the  direct  contemplation  of  objects  does  not 
exceed  five.  Three  seems  to  be  the  limit  among  most 
savage  peoples. 

As  the  comparison  of  objects  necessary  for  thinking 
gives  the  first  notion  of  number,  this  notion  grows  uncon- 
sciously with  the  extension  of  the  field  of  thought.  But 
because  of  the  Hmited  power  of  the  mind  to  grasp  at 
once  several  objects  presented  through  the  senses,  unless 
this  vague  number  conception  be  aided  and  enlarged  by 


no  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

means  of  a  system  of  numeration,  the  power  of  thought 
itself  is  limited  and  we  have  the  reasoning  power  of  the 
infant  continued  through  life,  as  in  the  savage. 

But  with  a  system  there  is  no  limit  to  computation,  not 
even  the  hypothetical  limit  to  the  number  of  existing 
countable  objects.  Both  the  infinitely  large  and  the  in- 
finitely small  become  the  commonplaces  of  mathematics. 

Counting  the  First  Step.  —  (2)  It  follows  that  the  first 
step  in  the  development  of  a  systematic  knowledge  of 
number  must  necessarily  be  counting :  that  is,  the  as- 
sembling under  a  definite  numerical  system  and  nomen- 
clature of  several  objects  on  no  other  ground  than  that 
of  some  qualitative  likeness.  Exact  measurement,  the 
recognition  of  the  quantitative  likeness  of  the  objects 
compared,  comes  later.  In  other  words,  we  first  teach 
pupils  to  count  things ;  as,  for  example,  the  children 
present,  —  it  matters  not  how  widely  they  differ  in 
height  or  weight. 

The  notion  of  numerical  progression  through  a  con- 
siderable field  having  been  established  by  counting,  the 
next  step  is  to  exact  calculation  or  measuring ;  quanti- 
tative relations  take  the  place  of  qualitative ;  how  many 
yields  to  how  much,  and  ratio  takes  the  place  of  counting. 
Frequently,  perhaps  in  most  cases,  this  stage  will  have 
been  passed  before  the  children  come  to  school.  This 
is  especially  true  of  those  who  have  enjoyed  the  advan- 
tage of  good  kindergarten  training. 

In  the  chapters  dealing  with  Method,  I  shall  take  it 
for  granted  that  the  counting  stage  has  been  passed  by 
the  children  before  the  formal  work  of  teaching  arith- 
metic is  undertaken  in  school,  and  that  they  are  ready 
for  the  second  step. 


Arithmetic  III 

Number  a  Mental  Product.  — (3)  Number  is  a  mental 
product,  not  a  physical  condition.  Things,  but  not  num- 
bers, exist  outside  the  mind.  Numerical  facts  are  not 
the  facts  of  physics.  To  quote  Professor  William  James 
("  Psychology,"  Vol.  II,  p.  655):  "  The  same  real  things 
are  countable  in  numberless  ways,  and  pass  from  one 
numerical  form,  not  only  to  its  equivalent  (as  Mill 
implies),  but  to  its  other,  as  the  sport  of  physical  acci- 
dents, or  of  our  mode  of  attending,  may  decide.  How 
could  our  notion  that  one  and  one  are  eternally  and 
necessarily  two  ever  maintain  itself  in  a  world  where 
every  time  we  add  one  drop  of  water  to  another  we  get, 
not  two,  but  one  again?  In  a  world  where  every  time 
we  add  a  drop  to  a  crumb  of  quickhme  we  get  a  dozen 
or  more?  Had  it  no  better  warrant  than  such  expe- 
riences, at  most  we  could  then  say  that  one  and  one  are 
usually  two.  Our  arithmetical  propositions  would  never 
have  the  confident  tone  which  they  now  possess.  That 
confident  tone  is  due  to  the  fact  that  they  deal  with  ab- 
stract and  ideal  numbers  exclusively." 

Counting  and  reckoning  consist  in  the  grouping  of 
objects  by  the  mind  to  any  quantitative  extent  and  in 
any  numerical  arrangement  in  such  ways  as  to  satisfy 
some  need  —  to  make  possible  the  definite  consideration 
of  objects  for  higher  uses. 

Need  of  System.  —  (4)  It  is  of  comparatively  Httle  use 
to  me  to  be  able  to  think  numerical  relations  even  with 
perfect  clearness,  unless  I  can  communicate  my  thoughts 
to  others  and  estabhsh  with  them  relations  on  a  numeri- 
cal basis. 

Hence  a  system  of  numeration  establishes  a  common 
ground,  a  clearing  house,  of  number  concepts,  so  that  the 


112  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

number  element  may  enter  definitely  and  effectively 
into  human  relations. 

Upon  number  systems  (arithmetic  in  the  larger  sense) , 
then,  depend  not  only  all  higher  forms  and  systems  of 
knowledge,  all  extended  thought,  but  also  very  many  so- 
cial relations,  including  all  forms  of  exchange,  whether 
of  labor  or  commodities,  whereby  our  wants  are  sup- 
plied. 

The  importance  of  these  fimdamental  principles,  simple 
as  they  are,  will  appear  when  we  come  to  discuss  methods 
of  instruction. 

Why  teach  arithmetic  in  school  ? 

The  Utilitarian  End. — The  ends  of  teaching  arithme- 
tic are  two  :  one  utilitarian,  the  other  educational.  The 
former  is  the  end  that  appeals  to  most  people  and  is 
the  one  usually  put  forward  as  the  basis  for  a  demand 
for  more  time  and  attention  to  this  one  of  the  three  R's. 
Doubtless  more  criticism  is  passed  upon  the  modern 
school  because  of  the  alleged  failures  of  young  people  to 
meet  the  arithmetical  requirements  of  business  than  for 
any  other  reason,  not  excepting  bad  spelling. 

That  there  is  some  ground  for  this  faultfinding  is 
doubtless  true.  However,  the  value  of  full  courses  in 
arithmetic  to  the  business  man  is  greatly  overestimated, 
and  in  many  cases  perverted ;  that  is,  portions  of  the 
arithmetic  that  are  supposed  to  have  great  utilitarian 
value  have  Httle  or  none. 

If  arithmetic  were  to  be  limited  solely  to  its  "  bread 
and  butter  "  values,  a  very  small  book  indeed  would  be 
required ;  and  while  much  drill  and  much  practice  would 
be  devoted  to  this  irreducible  minimum,  still  the  time 
given  to  the  subject  would  be  greatly  lessened. 


Arithmetic  1 13 

But  arithmetic  has  a  further  use  —  the  educational 
—  and  the  question  as  to  quantity  and  method  for  this 
use  is  not  easily  disposed  of.     This  will  be  treated  later. 

Minimum  Practical  Need.  —  What  knowledge  of  arith- 
metic does  the  average  business  man  need,  and  how  can 
the  school  best  supply  it?  He  should  be  able  to  add, 
subtract,  multiply,  and  divide  integers,  simple  common 
fractions,  and  decimals  extended  to  include  the  prin- 
ciples of  percentage  and  simple  interest,  with  a  very 
few  tables  of  denominate  numbers.  Ordinary  business 
requires  no  more  than  this.  Special  lines  of  business 
have  special  requirements,  as  that  of  the  broker  or  the 
banker  or  the  surveyor.  But  to  meet  such  special  de- 
mands is  not  the  function  of  the  elementary  school. 
Indeed,  such  particular  equipment  can  be  obtained  best 
and  most  economically  in  the  business  itself ;  and  most 
business  men  prefer  it  so. 

Should  we  then  omit  all  else  from  our  arithmetic, 
considered  on  a  purely  utilitarian  basis  ?  Let  us  see  what 
would  be  dropped. 

I  have  before  me  two  of  the  very  latest  and  most 
radical  grammar  school  arithmetics.  One  of  them  con- 
tains 378  pages  of  material  for  pupils'  use.  Of  these, 
205  are  given  to  subjects  not  included  in  our  list  of  util- 
itarian necessities,  leaving  a  book  of  essentials  containing 
but  173  pages.  The  additional  pages  are  taken  up  with 
matter  largely  modern,  but  educational  rather  than  util- 
itarian in  purpose. 

This  matter  is  distributed  as  follows : 

Pages 
Introductory  problems  —  covering  almost  the  entire  field  of 

calculations 28 

Tests  of  divisibility 3 


114  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

Pages 

Cancellation 4 

Algebra 31 

Geometry 37 

Bookkeeping 15 

Measurements 21 

Proportion 5 

Complex  Fractions 3 

"  Applications  of  Percentage  " 11 

"  Problems  of  Interest " 3 

Partial  Pa>Tnents 2 

Transportation 6 

Astronomy             7 

Longitude  and  Time S 

Mensuration '     .  10 

Squares  and  Square  Roots 5 

Cubes  and  Cube  Roots 3 

Metric  System 6 

In  addition  to  this  are  given  these  tables  —  English 
Money,  Money  Units  of  different  nations,  Troy  Weight, 
Apothecaries'  Weight,  Surveyors'  Measures. 

The  other  book  contains  487  pages  of  matter  for  the 
pupils,  including  besides  the  essentials : 

Pages 

Introductory  Problems 14 

Form  Study  and  Measurements  (Geometry)  .        .        .        -83 

Powers  and  Roots  .        . 10 

Ratio  and  Average 24 

Approximations 3 

*■' Applications " 38 

Divisibility i 

Algebra 28 

Applications  of  Interest 13 

Foreign  ]Money 6 

Metric  System 2 

Total 229 


Arithmetic  1 1 5 

This  book  also  gives  tables  for  Troy  Weight,  Apothe- 
caries' Weight,  and  Surveyors'  Measure. 

Both  books,  in  addition  to  the  many  pages  devoted  to 
enriching  the  subject  beyond  the  utilitarian  essentials, 
furnish  much  valuable  information  on  many  subjects, 
by  means  of  problems  illustrating  the  different  funda- 
mental principles. 

It  is  evident  that  the  authors  added  this  large  amount 
of  matter  because  of  its  supposed  educational  value. 

The  two  books  analyzed  are  exceptional  in  that  they 
omit  much  traditional  matter  found  in  older  arithmetics, 
originally  placed  there  for  the  same  reasons  that  other 
more  modern  foreign  matter  has  been  put  into  the 
newer  books. 

Following  are  the  most  common  of  these  traditional 
subjects,  found  in  nearly  all  arithmetics,  excepting  the 
most  recent : 

Equation  of  Payments,  Alligation,  Compound  Propor- 
tion, Partnership,  Series,  Annual  Interest,  Duodecimals, 
Exchange.  Besides  these  are  the  following,  which  are  also 
still  retained  by  the  most  modern  books:  "  Applica- 
tions "  of  Percentage  and  Interest,  including  Insurance, 
Profit  and  Loss  (fictitious  largely) ;  True  Discount ; 
Commission ;  and  Brokerage  (obsolete  in  method) ; 
Stocks ;  Partial  Payments ;  Addition,  Subtraction,  Mul- 
tiplication, and  Division  of  Compound  Numbers,  and 
also  certain  obsolete  and  special  tables  of  Denominate 
Numbers. 

Truly  this  is  an  array  that  in  these  days  of  curricula 
crowded  with  cultural  studies  needs  justification. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  discuss  the  utilitarian  value  of 
the  fundamental  processes,  or  of  those  simpler  branches 


Il6  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

of  arithmetical  knowledge  that  I  have  mentioned  as 
necessary  for  the  business  man.  Some  may,  however, 
question  the  possibihty  of  omitting  the  subjects  men- 
tioned as  unnecessary  for  the  business  man. 

Let  us  see.  Obsolete  methods  of  conducting  business 
surely  are  not  practically  useful.  This  will  leave  out 
the  greater  part  of  the  "  applications  of  percentage  " 
as  given  in  the  books,  including  Partial  Payments, 
Commission,  Brokerage,  Profit  and  Loss,  True  Discount, 
and  operations  in  compound  numbers  with  obsolete  or 
unusual  tables  and  terms,  such  as  Troy  Weight,  gill, 
stone,  square,  and  the  various  barrels ;  also  Equation  of 
Payments,  Alligation,  Duodecimals,  Compound  Propor- 
tion and  Partnership. 

Equation  of  payments  has  not  even  a  modern  equiva- 
lent. The  same  is  true  of  duodecimals,  except  for  purely 
theoretical  discussion,  or  in  fields  uncommon.  No  one 
outside  of  schools  adds  6  lb.  5  oz.  of  butter  to  2  cwt. 
17  lb.  and  3  oz.  No  one  multiplies  2  mi.  3  roods,  2  rd. 
II  yd.  2  ft.  9  in.,  by  7^.  In  the  cases  requiring  reckon- 
ing upon  compound  numbers,  decimals  or  common 
fractions  are  used. 

Not  even  the  surveyor  extracts  square  root  or  the 
lumberman  cube  root.  I  question  whether  any  one  who 
may  read  this  article  has  ever  had  occasion  to  use  either 
except  in  school.  They  are  blessings  for  the  learning  mind 
alone,  too  precious  for  the  coarser  uses  of  the  business 
man.  Hence  on  utiHtarian  grounds  these  subjects  all 
should  go. 

The  teaching  of  the  terms  and  processes  used  in  only 
single  specific  fines  of  business  cannot  but  be  regarded 
as  wasteful  for  the  average  child  on  "  practical  "  grounds. 


Arithmetic  II7 

This  eliminates  such  subjects  as  mensuration,  surveying, 
and  astronomical  reckoning,  including  longitude  and  time. 

What  shall  we  say  of  algebra  and  geometry?  And 
should  such  subjects  as  stocks,  profit  and  loss,  and 
brokerage  be  retained  with  modern  methods  substituted 
for  the  obsolete? 

As  to  algebra  and  geometry,  it  is  enough  to  say  that 
the  average  business  man  is  wholly  ignorant  of  them,  and 
that  they  could  not  be  applied  to  the  solution  of  the 
simple  and  manifest  problems  which  constitute  almost 
the  whole  mathematical  demand  of  ordinary  business. 
Their  educational  value  is  another  story. 

As  to  the  practical  importance  of  teaching  modern 
methods  of  certain  Hnes  of  business  in  substitution  for 
the  obsolete  methods  of  the  older  textbooks,  this  may 
be  said :  Much  may  profitably  be  taught  incidentally 
as  to  business  principles  and  methods,  through  problems 
given  to  illustrate  the  fundamental  principles.  This 
is  not  only  unobjectionable,  but  is  very  desirable.  It 
is  one  of  the  ways  of  imparting  a  sense  of  reality  to 
school  work  for  the  child.  Indeed,  the  choice  of  prob- 
lems, vital  in  character,  is  one  of  the  admirable  char- 
acteristics of  the  newer  books.  But  to  introduce  into 
arithmetic  on  utilitarian  grounds  a  subject  that  is 
chiefly  cultural  is  objectionable,  unless  it  be  a  subject 
of  very  general  usefulness.  Are  any  of  the  above-named 
subjects  of  sufl&cient  value  even  in  their  most  modern 
form  to  justify  their  retention  in  a  "  practical  "  arith- 
metic ? 

Of  the  "  applications  of  percentage,"  insurance  is 
possibly  of  sufi&cient  general  interest  to  justify  a 
reasonably  full  treatment. 


Il8  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

The  number  of  people  engaged  in  business  requiring 
the  payment  of  commissions  is  so  small  comparatively 
that  any  considerable  amount  of  space  for  this  subject 
is  not  justified  on  a  bread-and-butter  basis. 

Exchange  is  too  vague  and  too  limited  in  use  to  deserve 
a  large  place.  Brokerage  is  merely  simple  percentage. 
Of  stocks  it  may  be  well  to  teach  just  enough  to  enable 
a  pupil  to  understand  quotations.  Taxes  and  duties 
affect  all  and  should  be  taught  thoroughly. 

As  compound  interest  is  reckoned  in  savings  banks, 
the  banks  of  the  many  and  the  ignorant,  it  is  doubtless 
well  to  teach  enough  of  it  to  enable  depositors  to  figure 
their  interest.  All  methods  of  computing  simple  interest 
but  one,  the  one  employed  in  banks,  may  be  omitted. 

The  use  of  the  metric  system  among  us  is  still,  and  is 
Hkely  to  be  for  long  years  to  come,  limited  to  technical 
treatises  on  scientific  subjects.  The  prospect  offers  no 
justification  for  teaching  it  in  elementary  schools,  on 
economic  grounds. 

Hence  we  are  forced  to  the  doctrine  that  on  utilitarian 
grounds  alone  the  only  portions  of  arithmetic  that 
should  be  retained  are  the  fundamental  "  principles," 
simple  fractions  with  denominators  that  can  be  reduced 
to  a  common  denominator  by  factoring  at  sight ;  deci- 
mals; percentage,  and  interest,  including  just  enough 
of  the  "  applications  "  to  furnish  the  necessary  drill  and 
practice ;  one  method  of  computing  interest ;  taxes  aad 
duties ;  enough  of  compound  interest  to  enable  the  sav- 
ings bank  depositor  to  understand  his  bank  book.  To 
these  should  be  added  the  more  important  tables  of 
denominate  numbers. 

This  would  make  a  small  book  and  save  time,  while 


Arithmetic  II9 

it  would  undoubtedly  encourage  more  persistent  drill 
upon  the  subjects  taught  and,  probably,  would  secure 
greater  accuracy. 

Cultural  Value.  —  Let  us  consider  now  the  cultural 
value  of  arithmetic  and  determine,  if  possible,  how 
many  and  what  subjects  should  be  retained  in  it  on 
this  ground. 

How  may  arithmetic  serve  the  general  education, 
the  culture,  of  the  child  ?  In  two  ways :  one  by 
"  training  his  mind,"  securing  accurate  and  reliable 
processes  of  mental  activity,  —  in  brief,  by  teaching 
him  to  think ;  the  other  by  enriching  his  mental 
content,  that  is  by  giving  him  knowledge  not  merely 
for  immediate  utility  but  for  broadening  his  out- 
look, extending  his  sympathies  and  supplying  apper- 
ceiving  centers. 

We  must  bear  in  mind  that  in  order  to  justify  the 
attempts  to  secure  these  ends  through  the  study  of 
arithmetic  it  is  necessary  to  show  that  this  subject 
furnishes  the  best  and  most  economical  means  for 
securing  them.  Otherwise  they  should  be  cut  down  or 
omitted  and  more  efficient  cultural  agencies  substituted. 

Arithmetic  is  the  logic  of  the  child.  It  is  almost  the 
only  means  available  for  teaching  him  the  certainties  of 
logical  processes,  the  reliability  of  the  syllogism.  It  is 
the  only  field  of  absolute  truth  where  determinable 
effect  always  follows  determined  cause.  Dr.  David 
Eugene  Smith  in  "  The  Teaching  of  Elementary  Mathe- 
matics," p.  25,  says : 

"  The  fact  that  the  cliild  finds  a  positive  truth  an 
immutable  law  at  the  time  in  his  development  when  he  is 
naturally  filled  with  doubt,  with  the  desire  to  investi- 


I20  What  Children  Study  and  Why- 

gate,  and  with  the  feeling  that  he  must  put  away  childish 
things,  has  a  value  difficult  properly  to  appreciate.  He 
is  not  sure  that  every  flower  has  petals,  that  every  animal 
needs  oxygen,  that  '  most  unkindest '  is  bad  grammar, 
or  that  Columbus  was  the  real  discoverer  of  America ; 
but  he  is  sure,  and  no  argument  can  shake  his  faith,  that 
whatever  may  happen  to  the  universe  in  which  he  lives 
■(d^)-  will  always  equal  a-  -\-  2  ab  -\-  b^.''  "i 

But  this  particular  mental  power  is  best  obtained  through 
dealing  with  numbers  as  abstract  rather  than  through 
the  solution  of  difficult  business  problems.  It  is  the 
exact  result  of  the  action  of  known  causes  that  gives  the 
training  in  deductive  or  mathematical  reasoning.  There 
may  be,  however,  some  mental  gain  from  the  solution 
of  even  individual  problems.  Upon  this  point  I  again 
quote  Dr.  Smith : 

"  So  Arithmetic  may,  even  by  obsolete  problems,  train 
the  mind  of  the  child  logically  to  attack  the  everyday 
problems  of  life.  If  he  has  been  taught  to  think  in  solv- 
ing his  school  problems,  he  will  think  in  solving  the 
broader  ones  which  he  must  hereafter  meet.  The  same 
forms  of  logic,  the  same  attention  to  detail,  the  same 
patience,  and  the  same  care  in  checking  results  exercised 
in  solving  a  problem  in  greatest  common  divisor,  may 
show  itself  years  later  in  commerce,  in  banking,  or  in 
one  of  the  learned  professions.  Hence,  Arithmetic, 
when  taught  with  this  in  mind,  gives  to  the  pupil  not 
knowledge  of  facts  alone,  but  that  which  transcends  such 
knowledge,  namely,  power. 

"  It  must  not,  however,  be  thought  from  its  name  that 
this  culture  phase  of  the  subject  is  of  value  only  as  a 
luxury,  like  the  ability  to  dabble  in  music  or  painting. 


Arithmetic  1 21 

Just  because  it  is  the  child  of  the  man  in  poor  or  modest 
circumstances  who  must  make  his  own  way  in  the  world, 
it  is  for  the  common  people  that  this  culture  phase  is 
most  valuable." 

Still,  it  seems  to  me  evident  that  the  solution  of  com- 
plicated problems  tends  to  divert  the  attention  from  the 
deductive  processes  to  the  practical  aspects  of  the  ques- 
tions, the  assembling  and  assorting  of  the  causal  facts. 

Algebra.  —  Unquestionably  the  most  valuable  part  of 
arithmetic  for"  the  cultivation  of  reasoning  power  is  (if  I 
may  be  allowed),  not  arithmetic  at  all,  but  algebra. 

The  tendency  of  modern  books  to  introduce,  early, 
algebraic  terms  and  methods,  the  unknown  quantity  and 
the  equation,  cannot  be  too  highly  commended  from  the 
cultural  viewpoint,  because  the  former  deals  with 
specific  instances,  the  latter  with  generalizations.  De- 
spite all  the  general  statements  appearing  in  the  form  of 
rules,  an  arithmetical  statement  of  fact  stands  for  itself 
alone;  2-1-3  =  5  remains  that  and  nothing  more,  while 
a-\-b=c  stands  for  an  infinite  number  of  possible  terms, 
for  all  of  which  it  is  equally  true. 

Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  in  the  "  Autocrat,"  tells 
us: 

"  I  was  just  going  to  say,  when  I  was  interrupted, 
that  one  of  the  many  ways  of  classifying  minds  is  under 
the  heads  of  arithmetical  and  algebraical  intellects.  All 
economical  and  practical  wisdom  is  an  extension  or  vari- 
ation of  the  following  arithmetical  formula:  2-^-2  =  4. 
Every  philosophical  proposition  has  the  more  general 
character  of  the  expression  a-{-b  =  c.  We  are  mere 
operatives,  empirics,  and  egotists,  until  we  learn  to  think 
in  letters  instead  of  figures." 


122  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

Some  of  the  subjects  rejected  as  not  of  "  practical  " 
value  belong  properly  in  algebra.  Such  subjects  as  pro- 
portion and  series,  awkward  in  arithmetic  because  of 
lack  of  suitable  terms,  are  simple  in  algebra.  Indeed, 
if  these  and  other  such  subjects  are  to  be  retained  in 
arithmetic  for  their  cultural  value,  it  is  quite  important 
that  the  algebraic  method  of  teaching  them  be  used  in 
order  that  they  may  furnish  the  desired  training  in  logic. 

Truly  the  argument  in  favor  of  the  retention  of  sub- 
jects that  cultivate  the  power  to  think  is  strong.  This 
is  the  highest  power  of  the  intellect  and  it  is  none  too 
common,  while  no  subject  can  be  introduced  into  the 
elementary  curriculum  so  well  calculated  to  train  it  as 
the  "  back  part  "  of  the  arithmetic. 

In  the  higher  grammar  grades  a  definite  course  in 
elementary  algebra  is  of  great  value,  especially  to  the 
many  students  whose  schooling  ends  with  the  grammar 
school. 

Geometry.  —  The  study  of  the  elements  of  geometry, 
usually  introduced  as  "  form  study  "  and  mensuration, 
may  be  classed  with  that  of  algebra.  Its  chief  value 
rests  upon  the  importance  of  a  knowledge  of  form  and 
dimension  to  a  comprehension  of  the  physical  universe. 

Constructive  geometry  and  mensuration,  as  usually 
found  in  the  arithmetics,  appeal  not  so  much  to  the 
reason  as  to  the  imagination.  They  tend  also  to  sub- 
stitute an  exact  knowledge  of  the  environing  world  for  a 
vague  and  comparatively  useless  knowledge,  while  de- 
ductive geometry,  even  as  introduced  in  arithmetic  in 
the  application  of  formulae  and  other  generalizations  to 
the  solution  of  problems  in  mensuration,  shows  a  plain 
path   to    abstract   reasoning.     Problems   in   geometry, 


Arithmetic  1 23 

moreover,  can  be  offered  that  will  be  "  practical  "  with- 
out detracting  from  their  value  in  training  to  think. 

So  much  for  the  "  unpractical  "  subjects  that  cultivate 
the  reasoning  power.  The  test  question,  "  Could  the 
same  result  be  secured  more  effectively  and  economically 
by  any  other  means?  "  must  be  answered  in  the  nega- 
tive. These  are  the  subjects,  par  excellence,  for  teach- 
ing children  to  think,  and  on  that  ground  their  presence 
in  our  arithmetics  is  justified. 

Enrichment  of  Content.  —  The  second  of  the  cultural 
values  to  be  obtained  through  the  study  of  arithmetic 
is  the  enrichment  of  the  mental  content,  the  enlarge- 
ment of  the  field  of  knowledge.  What  subjects  not 
required  on  economic  ground  should  find  a  place  in 
arithmetic  because  they  represent  valuable  knowledge 
of  the  world  and  of  human  affairs  that  can  be  given 
best  in  connection  with  the  study  of  number  relations? 
This  offers  a  wide  field  of  investigation,  upon  which  we 
can  only  touch  here,  limiting  ourselves  to  the  tradi- 
tional subjects  referred  to  above. 

Of  these,  the  applications  of  arithmetic  to  certain 
special  Unes  of  business  are  the  most  numerous.  There 
is  indeed  strong  reason  for  acquainting  children  with 
the  general  outHnes  of  some  of  those  business  operations 
which  are  of  universal  interest,  even  though  compara- 
tively few  people  are  directly  engaged  in  them.  An  ex- 
ample is  the  corporation  with  its  issues  of  stocks  and 
bonds.  Although  few  of  the  children  are  likely  to  have 
any  active  connection  with  such  corporations,  all  citizens 
should  know  about  them.  They  are  now  common  sub- 
jects of  discussion  in  the  press,  and  of  legislation,  upon 
which  universal  intelhgence  is  demanded.     Besides,  they 


124  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

are  the  most  common  form  of  property  for  the  invest- 
ment of  savings,  and  they  are  explained  more  naturally 
in  connection  with  arithmetic  than  elsewhere. 

In  connection  with  these,  brokerage  and  commission 
may  be  taught  with  almost  no  additional  effort.  The 
essential  features  of  banking,  including  the  function  of 
the  clearing  house,  are  of  such  universal  interest  that 
they  should  be  included  in  the  grammar  school  arith- 
metic. 

Taxes  and  duties  have  also  an  economic  value  and 
belong  in  arithmetic  on  all  grounds.  On  the  other  hand, 
such  topics  as  partial  payments,  duodecimals,  equation 
of  payments,  and  compound  proportion  have  no  such 
imiversal  application  and  should  be  omitted  from  the 
common  school  arithmetic  altogether. 

Among  the  topics  relating  to  the  physical  world  the 
same  distinction  may  be  made. 

"  Longitude  and  time  "  is  of  universal  interest,  and 
although  one  may  be  able  to  tell  time  by  the  clock  with- 
out understanding  the  reason,  still  knowledge  of  the  laws 
that  determine  time  for  us  is  rich  and  pregnant  knowl- 
edge. The  only  question  is  whether  arithmetic  or 
geography  is  the  proper  place  for  it  in  the  school.  In 
the  present  unsatisfactory  state  of  geography  teaching 
I  believe  that  it  is  safer  to  trust  it  to  arithmetic.  Geog- 
raphy is  even  more  crowded  with  poor  relations  than  is 
arithmetic.  Besides,  the  mathematical  element  is  so 
evident  in  longitude  and  time,  that  it  is  a  good  subject 
through  which  to  show  the  mathematical  basis  of  the 
physical  universe,  one  of  the  very  large  truths  that 
children  should  acquire  from  the  study  of  arithmetic. 

The  various  topics  included  under  "  Mensuration  " 


Arithmetic  1 25 

have  been  discussed  in  relation  to  training  the  reason. 
They  have  no  place  in  arithmetic  on  the  ground  of  en- 
larging the  field  of  general  knowledge,  except  incidentally. 

Cube  root  has  no  place  on  any  ground  and  square 
root  is  doubtful.  They  are  very  hard  in  arithmetic 
and  very  easy  in  algebra  and  geometry. 

The  metric  system  raises  a  difiicult  question.  As  it 
is  the  system  in  general  use  among  the  Latin  nations, 
and  is  frequently  used  in  scientific  treatises  written  in 
English,  knowledge  of  it  is  very  desirable,  and,  of  course, 
if  it  is  to  be  studied  in  school,  arithmetic  is  the  place  for 
it.  It  is  not  difficult  to  learn  and  the  pupil  of  the  higher 
grades,  with  a  very  little  effort,  can  master  it  sufficiently 
to  be  able  to  read  books  using  it  and  to  image  dimen- 
sions expressed  in  it,  by  a  rough  comparison  with  our 
own  system. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  discuss  other  topics  specifically. 
The  general  principle  applies  to  them  all.  If  they  are 
subjects  of  sufficient  cultural  value  to  demand  a  place 
in  the  course  of  study  and  if  arithmetic  is  the  most 
natural  place  in  the  course  for  them,  there  they  should 
remain;  otherwise,  not. 

Resume.  —  A  conception  of  number  is  fundamental 
to  even  the  most  elementary  thinking.  A  system  of 
numbers  is  essential  to  all  the  higher  realms  of  thought, 
and  also  to  effective  communication  among  thinking 
beings. 

Arithmetic  has  both  a  utilitarian  and  a  cultural  value. 

For  the  former,  more  than  half  of  the  ordinary  arith- 
metic is  nearly  or  wholly  worthless.  The  essential  sub- 
jects to  this  end  are  the  fundamental  processes. 

For  the  latter,  the  subject  as  a  whole  is  very  valuable, 


126  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

especially  in  cultivating  the  power  to  reason.  The  most 
important  subjects  for  this  end  are  the  fundamental 
processes  and  the  methods  of  algebra  and  geometry. 

Of  the  subjects  falling  under  the  head  of  "  general 
information,"  the  principles  of  special  lines  of  business 
of  nearly  universal  interest  may  properly  be  included 
in  arithmetic,  as  may  longitude  and  time  and  possibly 
the  metric  system. 

Subjects  should  not  be  introduced  to  children  through 
arithmetic  for  their  cultural  effects,  unless  arithmetic  is 
the  best  avenue  for  securing  those  effects.  Many  of  the 
subjects  whose  avowed  aim  is  to  acquaint  the  child 
with  the  sciences  or  with  business  usage  should  be  omitted 
as  foreign  to  the  subject.  But  problems  throwing  light 
upon  those  subjects  may  be  used  profitably  for  illustra- 
tion and  for  practice  under  the  essential  subjects,  and  thus 
incidentally  may  supply  cultural  elements. 


CHAPTER  XI 

Arithmetic 

methods  of  instruction 

Ends  to  be  Secured.  —  In  considering  methods  of  in- 
struction in  arithmetic,  we  must  bear  in  mind  the  gen- 
eral results  to  be  secured,  (i)  Facility  and  accuracy  in 
the  use  of  numbers,  as  applied  to  the  simple  operations 
which  constitute  the  great  part  of  ordinary  business 
calculations ;  (2)  such  culture  as  can  best  be  obtained 
in  connection  with  the  study  of  numbers,  this  culture 
falling  into  two  classes :  (a)  the  power  to  reason 
justly,  a  result  of  the  logic  of  mathematical  reasoning, 
inexorable,  although  limited  in  application ;  and  (6)  such 
knowledge  of  the  physical  world  and  of  human  relations 
as  is  expressed  chiefly  in  numerical  terms. 

The  classroom  teacher  usually  has  Httle  to  say  as  to 
what  topics  in  arithmetic  he  shall  teach.  They  are 
fixed  in  the  course  of  study.  He  may,  however,  at  least 
to  a  degree,  so  present  even  unnecessary  topics  as  to 
determine  the  character  of  the  results. 

It  will  be  manifestly  impossible  in  a  single  article  to 
treat  other  than  typical  subjects  for  the  different  grades. 

The  Time  Element.  —  Time  is  a  very  important  ele- 
ment in  acquiring  accuracy  and  facility  in  the  manipu- 
lation of  numbers,  especially  in  the  primary  grades. 
The  chief  end  of  arithmetic  teaching  in  the  primary 
school  is  the  mastery  of  the  fundamental  combinations 

127 


128  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

of  addition  and  of  the  multiplication  table.  The  accu- 
rate use  of  these  should  become  automatic,  so  that  it  will 
be  practically  impossible  for  a  child  to  make  a  mistake. 
Most  arithmetics  and  most  courses  of  study  hurry 
this  process.  They  crowd  the  tables  together,  without 
allowing  time  enough  for  each  one  to  "  soak  in." 

The  development  should  be  very  gradual.  Each 
combination  and  each  table  should  be  taught  by  itself 
and  should  be  emphasized  by  such  a  variety  of  exer- 
cises that  it  can  never  be  forgotten.  The  study  of  the 
multipUcation  table  should  be  slowly  and  consistently 
cumulative.  Fractions  should  be  taught  correctly  at 
the  same  time,  thus  laying  a  foundation  for  their  more 
intensive  study  later.  It  takes  little  additional  effort, 
while  learning  that  four  times  four  equals  sixteen,  to 
learn  that  four  is  one  fourth  of  sixteen. 

The  Utilitarian  Ends.  —  First,  then,  how  shall  a  child 
secure  facility  and  accuracy  in  calculation? 

Drill.  —  The  teacher's  one  invariable  means  to  this 
end  has  always  been  drill,  by  which  is  meant  iteration, 
repeating  number  combinations  over  and  over  again 
until  the  brain  paths  become  fixed  and  the  action 
automatic.  Unquestionably  drill  of  this  sort  will  be 
always  an  important  means  to  this  end.  If  the  only 
elements  of  this  so-called  practical  aim  of  arithmetic 
were  rapid  and  exact  addition,  subtraction,  multi- 
plication, and  division  of  integers,  such  drill  might 
possibly  sufl&ce,  although  even  then  the  psychological 
difficulty  of  loss  of  interest  and  consequent  limitation  of 
progress  would  of  necessity  manifest  itself.  Automatic 
processes  are  naturally  self-limiting. 

But  even  the  most  fact-loving  of  Gradgrinds  is  not 


I 


Arithmetic  129 

satisfied  with  the  mere  ability  to  combine  and  separate 
integers  under  the  four  "  fundamental  principles."  It 
must  be  possible  to  use  them  in  business  problems,  also 
with  facility  and  accuracy.  It  must,  too,  be  possible 
to  deal  accurately  and  swiftly  with  fractions,  common 
and  decimal.  These  requirements  demand  more  than 
mere  calculating  machines.  They  demand  the  power 
to  think,  which  drill  alone  cannot  furnish.  Here  the 
first  aim  touches  the  second,  and  it  becomes  apparent 
that  no  mere  mechanical  drill  is  sufiicient  for  even  its 
own  ends.  So  we  must  include  some  of  the  suggestions 
for  the  second  end  in  our  treatment  of  the  first. 

Method  must  vary  with  Age.  —  There  is  no  uniform 
method  of  teaching  arithmetic.  The  method  must  vary 
with  the  age  of  the  children  studying  and  with  their 
differing  powers  to  think  in  abstract  terms. 

In  arithmetic,  as  in  morals  and  in  all  the  common 
affairs  of  life,  there  is  a  place  for  authority,  as  well  as 
for  reasoning.  The  power  of  self-direction  is  itself  a 
growth.  The  young  child  must  be  told  many  things 
outright  long  before  he  can  comprehend  them.  He 
must  also  do  many  things  in  obedience  to  authority  until 
he  is  able  to  "  reason  out  "  a  course  of  action.  The 
fault  of  the  old  teaching  lay,  not  in  its  use  of  authority, 
but  in  its  abuse  of  it.  Children  were  compelled  to  rely 
wholly  upon  it  and  hence  lost  the  opportunity  to  acquire 
power  to  reason  and  to  direct  their  own  courses. 

In  teaching  arithmetic,  the  transition  from  authority 
to  reason  must  be  gradual.  At  first  only  very  simple 
things  can  be  comprehended,  even  with  the  aid  of  con- 
crete illustration  and  of  motor  activity.  Counting  is  of 
necessity    learned    from    authoritative    statement,    so 


130  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

must  be  many  of  the  facts  of  notation.  Names  are 
largely  arbitrary.  But  the  names  of  numbers  once 
learned,  the  simple  combinations  may  be  made  plain  by 
concrete  illustration.  A  child  must  learn  to  count  two, 
three,  and  five  through  being  told  the  names  of  the 
combinations.  But  he  can  and  should  learn  that  two 
and  three  are  five  in  quite  a  different  way.  This  com- 
bination he  must  see  for  himself  if  his  knowledge  is  to 
be  real. 

With  progress  in  power  to  reason,  the  value  of  au- 
thority gradually  disappears  and  reason  becomes  more 
and  more  important.  The  child  in  the  fifth  grade  may 
properly  be  told  to  divide  one  third  by  one  half  by  in- 
verting the  divisor  and  multipljdng.  In  the  grammar 
grades  he  should  know  why  this  method  will  avail. 

In  general  the  inductive  method  is  the  ideal  method 
for  teaching  arithmetic,  but  it  must  be  used  with  dis- 
cretion. With  young  children,  induction  in  mathe- 
matics requires,  not  merely  observations,  but  muscular 
effort  and  reaction. 

Concrete  Presentation.  —  Take,  for  example,  the  al- 
ways difficult  problem  of  "  carrying  "  in  addition  and 
"  borrowing  "  in  subtraction.     It  can  be  taught  by  rule, 
by  illustration,  or  by  use  of  the  objects,  but  with 
23    very  different  results.     Add  23  and  19.     By  rule 
10    we  say  9+3  =  12,  i  ten  and  2  units.     Set  down 
7^     the  2  under  units  column,  add  the  i  to  the  tens 
in   tens   column    =4.     Some   few   children  may 
comprehend   this   if   tens   and   units   have    previously 
been   taught   concretely,  not   otherwise.     But  to  most 
it  is  simply  an  order  to  be   obeyed   unquestioningly. 
This  is  the  method  of  the  older  books  and  of  many  of 


Arithmetic 


131 


those  in  use  to-day,  and  I  venture  to  say  that  there  are 
many  teachers  in  the  schools  who,  until  in  their  maturity 
they  began  to  teach,  did  not  really  comprehend  the 
simple  reason  for  "  carrying." 

Another  method  is  by  illustration,  rows  of  pictured 
objects  in  tens  and  units : 


*  *  * 


+ 


2  tens, 
+ 1  ten. 


3  units 
9  units 


** 


4  tens,  2  units 


3  tens,     12  units 

This  unquestionably  aids  the  comprehension,  and  more 
children  will  grasp  the  principle  from  this  method  than 
from  the  mere  rule.  But  it  is  not  the  simplest  or  the 
most  effective  way.  A  very  simple  and  easily  procured 
material  for  concrete  illustration  is  a  box  of  sticks,  such 
as  are  used  in  the  kindergarten  and  in  many  primary 
schools.  Wood  toothpicks  will  do  as  well.  Let  the 
children  tie  up  a  hundred  or  more  of  the  sticks  in  bundles 
of  ten  each  (don't  do  it  for  them),  leaving  a  considerable 
number  single. 

Then  let  them  actually  lay  out  the  sticks,  2  bundles 
of  10  and  3  single  sticks,  and  lay  beside  them  one  bundle 
of  10  and  9  singles,  making  in  all  3  bundles  of  10  and 
12  single  sticks.  Have  children  tie  up  10  of  the  singles 
into  a  new  bundle  and  place  it  with  the  others,  giving 
4  tens  and  leaving  2  ones.  The  operations  with  figures 
should  be  carried  on  simultaneously  on  the  blackboard 
and  by  the  children  on  paper.  Simple  as  this  may  seem, 
it.is  psychologically  and  physiologically  sound.    The  em- 


132  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

ployment  of  the  motor  activities  and  of  the  muscular  sense 
strengthens  and  deepens  the  impression  and  aids  in  pro- 
ducing knowledge  of  the  fact  as  distinguished  from  words. 

For  subtraction  reverse  the  process.  This,  too,  must 
be  accompanied  by  a  demonstration  of  the  operation 
with  symbols. 

Possibly  even  a  better  material  for  the  study  of  the 
periodic  values  of  figures  is  real  or  imitation  coins,  cents 
and  dimes  and  dollars,  used  in  the  making  of  change,  to 
illustrate  reduction  of  lower  to  higher,  and  the  reverse. 

This  foundation,  once  laid  by  the  development  of 
"  carrying  "  and  "  borrowing  "  in  addition  and  subtrac- 
tion, followed  by  sufficient  practice  to  confirm  the  knowl- 
edge beyond  the  possibility  of  loss,  serves  for  the  entire 
structure  of  notation,  including  decimals,  and  for  all  the 
manipulations  necessary  under  the  four  "  fundamental 
principles." 

This  preparatory  work,  whose  purpose  is  to  secure 
actual  comprehension  of  the  relations  indicated  by  the 
positions  of  figures  in  numbers,  must  be  followed,  not 
preceded,  by  drill. 

Order  of  Presentation.  —  The  order  of  presentation  is 
this :  First,  a  problem  whose  solution  is  carefully  de- 
veloped by  every  means  necessary  to  its  full  comprehen- 
sion. Then  more  problems  of  a  similar  sort,  to  be  worked 
by  the  pupils,  enough  to  clinch  the  instruction  given 
and  make  it  a  factor  in  all  future  similar  operations; 
then  drill  upon  the  abstract  numbers  used,  to  secure  the 
desired  automatic  action. 

Drill  Abstract.  —  Drill  should  be  bare  drill,  unem- 
barrassed by  terms  or  conditions  or  names  not  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  the  statement  of  the  problem  in  its 


Arithmetic  I33 

simplest  form;  that  is,  for  drill,  do  not  give  problems 
upon  so-called  concrete  numbers,  but  rather  upon  ab- 
stract, for  instance,  not  such  questions  as : 

2  apples  -I-  4  apples  =  ?  apples. 
3  marbles  —  2  marbles  =  ?  marbles. 
6X3  boys  =  ?  boys. 
10  girls  -f-  2  =  ?  girls, 
but  rather: 

2+4  =  ? 

3  -  2  =  ? 

6X3  =  ? 

10  -f-  2  =  ? 

The  addition  of  a  name  to  a  number  does  not  really 
make  it  concrete,  but  it  does  embarrass  the  solution  by 
introducing  an  element  foreign  and  unnecessary. 

The  application  of  these  principles  to  fractions;  to 
the  study  of  Hues,  surfaces,  and  solids;  to  denominate 
numbers,  and  to  monetary  transactions,  is  evident. 
First  develop  the  relations  involved,  and  then  drill 
until  the  memory  will  act  mechanically. 

Care  must  be  exercised  not  to  go  beyond  the  point  of 
interest  even  in  the  later  drill.  The  moment  interest 
ceases,  the  drill  becomes  dead  and  is  likely  to  do  more 
harm  than  good.  Minds  interested  and  alert  are  the 
requisite  of  valuable  drill. 

Limitations  of  the  Concrete.  —  A  caution  is  needed  as 
to  the  limitations  of  the  use  of  the  concrete.  Teachers 
sometimes  develop  subjects  by  means  of  sticks  and 
squares  and  cubes  and  other  schoolroom  paraphernalia 
so  continuously  as  not  only  to  retard  progress,  but 
even  to  cause  arrested  mental  development.  The  chil- 
dren have  become  so  used  to  handling  things  to  get 


134  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

knowledge  that  their  power  to  reason  abstractly  has 
been  actually  impaired. 

The  object  should  be  used  to  give  a  clear  image,  and  as 
soon  as  this  has  been  accomphshed,  should  be  discarded. 
Its  only  use  is  to  lead  to  clear  thinking.  When  the  chil- 
dren are  able  to  image  the  combinations  and  to  think 
the  processes  without  the  material  aid,  its  use  should 
be  discontinued  at  once.  Some  children  can  dispense 
with  these  aids  sooner  than  others.  The  teacher  must 
judge.  For  instance,  in  teaching  the  relations  of  terms  in 
numeration,  units  to  tens,  tens  to  hundreds,  etc.,  by  the 
use  of  objects  as  outlined  above  for  "  carrying  "  and 
"  borrowing,"  it  will  seldom  be  necessary  to  carry  the 
method  beyond  tens.  If  the  tenfold  increase  from  units 
to  tens  is  made  perfectly  clear,  the  corresponding  in- 
creases to  higher  places  will  be  comprehended  by  most 
children  without  the  concrete  illustration.  A  few  may 
need  to  have  hundreds  developed.  The  ability  to  reason 
should  be  the  rehance  whenever  possible.  The  material 
aid  should  be  used  only  when  needed. 

The  above  are  merely  typical  instances,  but  the  prin- 
ciples are  of  general  application.  If  drill  in  all  the 
simpler  operations  upon  numbers  were  preceded  by  a 
thorough  comprehension  of  the  principles  involved,  and 
then  were  so  abundant  and  of  such  character  as  to  make 
those  operations  automatic  and  yet  intelligent,  we  should 
have  fewer  complaints  from  business  men  that  children 
nowadays  cannot  add. 

The  important  numbers  in  most  operations  are  the 
small  numbers,  and  the  important  combinations  are  the 
simpler  ones.  These  are  easily  learned  when  once  they 
are  comprehended. 


CHAPTER  XII 

Arithmehc 
METHODS  OF  INSTRUCTION  (Continued) 

In  mathematics  the  child  finds  for  the  first  time  cer- 
tainty. Indeed,  for  the  adult,  mathematical  fact  is  almost 
the  only  certainty,  and  mathematical  reasoning  is  quite 
the  only  reasoning  without  an  "if."  Its  scope  is  com- 
paratively narrow,  it  is  true,  but  its  lines  never  vary. 

The  school  has  no  higher  office  toward  the  intellects 
of  pupils  than  to  teach  them  to  "  reason  justly."  How 
may  arithmetic  aid  in  this  work?  Mainly  through  two 
agencies :  (i)  the  inductive  method  of  approaching  all 
new  subjects,  leading  pupils  to  make  their  own  generali- 
zations in  the  forms  of  definitions  and  rules  of  pro- 
cedure ;  and  (2)  the  apphcation  of  principles  taught  to 
the  solution  of  vital  problems,  and,  especially  in  the 
higher  grades,  through  the  use  of  the  equation  and  of 
the  literal  symbol  to  represent  the  unknown  quantity. 

In  the  older  books  the  rule  and  the  definition  almost 
always  were  given  at  the  beginning  of  all  new  topics. 
They  rested  on  authority  wholly.  The  reasoning  power 
of  the  children  was  ignored  and  memory  was  the  sole 
reHance,  excepting  in  the  application  of  the  principle  to 
the  solution  of  problems,  and  even  here  the  reasoning 
was  only  partial,  the  application  to  stated  conditions  of 
an  uncomprehended  rule  or  formula  of  procedure.  To 
reheve  this  condition,  Warren  Colburn  put  forth  his 
famous  "  Mental  Arithmetic,"  which,  with  its  imitators 

135 


136  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

and  successors,  accomplished  great  good,  notwithstand- 
ing its  excessive  formalism. 

The  Inductive  Approach.  —  Illustrations  of  the  induc- 
tive approach  have  already  been  given  on  pages  130, 
131  to  show  its  use  in  developing  facility  and  accuracy  in 
the  manipulation  of  numbers.  Further  illustrations  are 
the  following : 

Denominate  numbers  should  be  taught  at  first  with 
the  measure  in  hand. 

Fractions  always  present  serious  difficulties  to  chil- 
dren, which  may  easily  be  avoided  by  employing 
inductive  instead  of  authoritative  methods,  while  at 
the  same  time  the  pupils  are  being  trained  to  think. 
If  the  three  basal  ideas  of  fractions  are  comprehended 
early  by  the  pupils,  all  the  later  operations  are  com- 
paratively easy,  and  the  work  becomes  training  in 
thinking  instead  of  the  mere  following  of  rules.  I  re- 
fer to  the  facts  (i)  that  every  fraction  is  an  aliquot  part 
of    an   indicated    unit,    either    integral    or    fractional; 

(2)  that  every  fraction  is  a  statement  of  a  ratio, 
the  quotient  of  one  number  divided  by  another,  and 

(3)  that  for  purposes  of  calculation  each  fraction  is 
itself  a  unit,  or  a  stated  number  of  units,  according  to 
its  use. 

Some  will  doubtless  say,  "  Of  course,  we  always  teach 
these  things."  Possibly,  but  the  arithmetic  books  do 
not,  at  least,  in  such  a  way  that  the  children  grasp 
them,  for  to  state  them  as  they  are  stated  here  is  not  to 
teach  them.  On  the  contrary,  to  the  ordinary  child  in 
school,  fractions  are  a  mystery  not  to  be  comprehended, 
and  the  only  path  through  them  is  that  of  bhnd 
obedience  to  rule. 


Arithmetic  137 

The  first  of  the  principles  is  more  commonly  well 
taught  than  the  others.  Through  handling  objects, 
counting  by  2's,  3's,  etc.,  "wholing  and  parting,"  dividing 
groups  into  smaller  groups  called  halves,  thirds,  fourths, 
and  the  like,  children  in  a  modern  primary  school  un- 
consciously acquire  the  notion  that  an  aliquot  part  of 
any  unit  is  a  fraction. 

Still  the  fixed-unit  absurdity  is  impressed  up)on  the 
pupil  when  the  book  is  reached,  and  ^  becomes  the  myste- 
rious symbol  of  the  unknowable.  This  is  partly  en- 
couraged by  such  falsities  as  "  compound  fractions,"  in 
which  I  of  I,  the  simplest  statement  of  relation,  as  simple 
as  §  of  4,  or  ^  of  6  inches,  is  misstated  in  its  very  name 
"  compound."  The  remedy  is  of  course  to  drop  such  mis- 
leading terms  and  return  to  the  fact  of  relation,  if  neces- 
sary, using  concrete  objects,  for  example,  slicing  an  apple 
into  fractions  of  fractions.  But  whatever  the  means,  the 
pupils  should  always  be  forced  to  keep  in  view  the  fact 
that  a  fraction  is  an  aliquot  part  of  the  indicated  unit, 
which  may  be  any  number,  fractional  or  integral,  and  not 
merely  one.  The  fact  that  a  short  method  of  finding 
^  of  I  is  to  multiply  numerator  by  numerator  and 
denominator  by  denominator  should  not  be  allowed 
to  blind  the  children  to  the  fact  that  the  "  compound 
fraction  "  is  a  mere  statement,  one  half  of  two  thirds ^ 
which  is  one  third.  They  should  comprehend  the  rela- 
tion. 

The  second  principle  is  that  a  fraction  is  a  statement 
of  ratio.  That  is,  f  means  not  only  two  of  the  three 
parts  into  which  i  is  divided  (f  of  a  fixed  unit),  but 
one  of  the  three  parts  into  which  2  is  divided  {\  of 
the  unit  2,  —  2  divided  by  3). 


138  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

This  can  be  made  clear  by  much  "  wholing  and  part- 
ing "  ;  first,  of  groups  of  objects,  or  of  exactly  measured 
dimensions,  as  inches,  then  of  abstract  numbers.  It  may 
be  best  to  begin  with  easily  divisible  wholes,  as  4's  or  6's. 

Further  practice  will  develop  the  truth  that  the  ratios 
of  numbers  are  not  affected  by  the  introduction  of  equal 
factors  into  both  or  by  their  removal  from  both,  as : 

22x3        '6       6-=-3^* 

Much  drill,  both  concrete  and  abstract,  upon  such 
combinations  will  lead  the  pupil  first  to  see  the  relations 
and  then  to  comprehend  the  process. 

This  imaging  of  the  fundamental  processes  prepares 
the  way  for  those  more  puzzling  operations  required  for 
the  addition,  subtraction,  and  division  of  fractions.  It 
makes  possible  the  comprehension  of  the  function  of  the 
conmion  denominator,  which  usually  is  not  compre- 
hended at  aU  by  the  pupil  who  performs  the  operation 
by  rule. 

As  a  further  preparation  for  such  operations,  however, 
the  third  principle  should  be  comprehended,  namely, 
that  each  fraction  is  itself  a  unit,  which  can  as  readily 
be  manipulated,  increased,  or  diminished  as  an  integer. 

In  arithmetical  calculation,  ^  is  as  definite  an  entity 
as  I .  This  principle  grows  out  of  the  second  one,  namely, 
that  every  fraction  is  a  statement  of  ratio.  It  is  most 
easily  seen  in  improper  fractions.  Thus  f  equal  2. 
The  fraction  is  simply  another  way  of  expressing  2, 
and  hence  all  the  operations  that  may  be  performed 
upon  2  may  likewise  be  performed  upon  \.  Children 
can  easily  be  led  to  see  that  in  its  nature  |  is  similar  to 


Arithmetic  139 

I,  although  it  has  no  integral  equivalent.  With  these 
principles  firmly  in  mind  the  difiiculties  of  treating 
fractions  disappear. 

For  example,  division  of  fractions  is  puzzling  to  most 
children.  Even  teachers  sometimes  are  unable  to  see  the 
reason  for  inverting  the  divisor  and  multiplying  the  frac- 
tions. Yet  it  is  really  as  simple  as  addition  to  classes 
that  have  had  the  preliminary  training  outlined  above. 
At  least  grammar  school  classes  that  have  reached  the 
formal  study  of  fractions  can  easily  image  the  process. 
For  example : 

3_i_2  3   y   3  9  jl 

This  by  rule.     The  process  is  really  as  follows : 

4      3      3      4      4X3'3X4' 

3x4   both  being  the  common  denominator  and  showing 

by  its  structure  how  common  denominators  are  made. 

Dividing  the  numerator  of  the  dividend  by  that  of  the 

divisor,  we  have 

3  X3_9_-i 
2X4~8~  ^' 

In  other  words,  the  rule  merely  indicates  a  short 
method  of  dividing,  the  common  denominator  being 
"  understood,"  that  is,  eliminated  from  the  actual  work, 
though  constructively  present. 

Teaching  to  make  Generalizations.  —  A  process  com- 
prehended is  vastly  more  interesting  to  the  pupil  than 
one  performed  by  rule  merely,  and  what  is  more  im- 
portant, it  trains  him  to  think  for  himself.  There  should, 
however,  be  both  rules  and  definitions,  but  they  should 


140  What  Children  Study  and  Why- 

be  formulated  by  the  pupils  themselves  after  observa- 
tion and  manipulation.  This  cultivates  that  most  im- 
portant of  all  reasoning  powers,  the  power  to  generalize ; 
for  definitions  and  rules  are  generalizations,  having  the 
especial  advantage  for  beginners  in  the  art  of  reasoning 
that  they  are  certainties,  not  probabilities. 

After  the  children  have  done  their  best  at  construct- 
ing definitions  and  rules,  it  is  well  to  compare  the  results 
of  their  efforts  with  the  statements  in  the  book,  to  make 
sure  of  accuracy,  and  to  insure  the  best  and  most  eco- 
nomical form  of  statement. 

If  the  work  according  to  the  inductive  method  at 
first  seems  slow,  as  compared  with  that  under  the  rule, 
there  need  be  no  anxiety.  Facility  in  later  operations, 
due  to  a  thorough  understanding  of  the  reasons  for 
them,  will  much  more  than  compensate  for  the  earlier 
loss  of  time. 

The  generalized  truth  is  a  great  time-saver.  When 
olice  comprehended,  its  use  avoids  the  necessity  of  re- 
peating each  time  the  process  by  which  it  has  been 
reached.  A  child  who  has  learned  by  observation  the 
meaning  of  the  word  "  triangle  "  is  saved  the  necessity 
of  describing  it  as  a  three-sided  figure  each  time  he 
would  refer  to  it. 

Of  course,  it  is  important  that  the  development  of  a 
principle  should  not  be  continued  after  the  idea  is  once 
firmly  grasped.  The  power  to  think  should  be  utiKzed 
as  rapidly  as  it  is  manifested.  Otherwise  there  will  be 
loss  of  time  and  interest,  if  not  actual  arrest  of  growth. 

Use  of  Unknown  Quantity  and  Equation.  —  In  order 
to  save  time  and  to  insure  the  understanding  of  the 
processes,  it  is  important  that  the  unknown  quantity 


Arithmetic  141 

and  the  equation  be  introduced  into  the  arithmetic 
quite  early.  The  use  of  x  for  the  unknown  result  is  not 
difficult  for  grammar  school  pupils,  and  it  opens  the  way 
to  the  time-saving  processes  which  constitute  one  of  the 
advantages  of  algebra  over  arithmetic.  This,  of  course, 
both  makes  possible  and  requires  the  use  of  the  equation, 
f  of  6  =  I  of  what  number  ? 

-ofo  =  -ofA::    — =■ — :    60  =  I2J; :  a:=  <;. 
3  5  3        5 

This  particular  problem  could  more  easily  be  solved 
by  inspection  and  analysis ;  it  merely  illustrates  the 
method  which  may  be  employed  with  more  difficult 
problems.  The  x  makes  it  possible  to  use  the  unknown 
result  as  if  it  were  a  known  number  in  the  equation. 
Thus  the  whole  problem  is  clearly  pictured  and  the 
process  becomes  visible  to  the  mind's  eye. 

The  preparation  for  the  use  of  the  equation  should  be 
made  first  by  means  of  tangible  objects,  as  a  balance  with 
weights,  or  a  scale  of  inches  and  feet,  showing  that  the 
two  members  may  be  increased  or  decreased  by  addition, 
subtraction,  multiplication,  or  division  to  any  extent, 
provided  both  be  equally  affected,  for  this  is  the  entire 
secret  of  the  manipulation  of  equations.  But  once 
really  grasped,  it  makes  easy  the  solution  of  many 
arithmetical  problems,  and  best  of  all,  it  requires  and 
develops  the  power  to  think,  by  establishing  rational 
principles  through  rational  processes. 

This  phase  of  the  cultural  aim  of  arithmetic  might  be 
developed  indefinitely,  in  application  to  the  various 
topics.  Especially  might  much  be  said  of  the  orderly 
development  of  problems,  stating  them  clearly  and  think- 
ing them  through ;  but  surely  enough  has  been  said  to 


142  What  Children  Study  and  Why- 

make  plain  the  contention  that  work  in  arithmetic 
should  be  work  in  thinking,  and  not  merely  the  per- 
forming of  operations  according  to  rule. 

Enriching  the  Content.  —  The  second  phase  of  the 
cultural  aim  of  the  teaching  of  arithmetic  is  enriching 
the  mental  content,  giving  such  knowledge  of  the 
physical  and  social  world  as  may  properly  be  given 
through  this  study.  This  was  treated  quite  fully  in 
Chapter  X  and  need  not  be  elaborated  here.  Suffice 
it  to  say :  arithmetic  must  be  taught  as  applied, 
to  give  both  interest  and  practical  value,  and  the 
choice  of  problems  to  illustrate  principles  supplies  the 
opportunity  for  enriching  the  subject.  Here  is  the  weak- 
ness of  most  of  the  older  textbooks.  The  problems  are 
superannuated,  disconnected,  and  unreal. 

Problems  for  Cultural  Value.  —  A  few  simple  prin- 
ciples may  be  stated  as  to  the  character  of  the  problems 
to  be  used.  , 

(i)  They  should  be  vital.  They  should  have  a  mean- 
ing to  the  children.  They  may  be  drawn  from  their  im- 
mediate environment :  from  the  home  life,  the  school 
life,  the  games  played,  from  the  other  subjects  studied, 
as  history,  or  geography,  or  manual  training ;  from  cur- 
rent events, —  from  any  source  of  real  and  present  interest. 
There  are  enough  such  problems  available  without  re- 
sorting to  the  absurdities  of  the  old  books :  "  When  will 
the  hound  overtake  the  hare?"  In  addition  to  the 
problems  in  the  book,  children  should  be  required  to 
gather  material  and  make  many  problems  of  their  own 
from  actual  conditions :  the  cost  of  a  dinner,  the  build- 
ing of  a  house  or  barn  or  rabbit  hutch,  the  grading  of  a 
street,  the  profits  of  a  newsboy.     Their  world  is  full  of 


Arithmetic  143 

vital  material  for  calculations  of  nearly  all  the  sorts 
found  in  a  good  arithmetic.  ^ 

(2)  There  should  be  many  connected  problems,  show- 
ing various  relations.  A  series  of  real  problems  involv- 
ing many  arithmetical  processes  is  much  more  interest- 
ing and  requires  more  consecutive  thought  than  many 
separate  problems  employing  the  same  operations,  and 
it  imparts  a  more  reahstic  view  of  hfe.  Its  content  is 
richer. 

For  example,  imagine  a  contractor  figuring  on  the 
building  of  a  house.  Let  the  class  draw  the  plans  for 
the  house  to  scale,  doing  their  own  measuring  and  cal- 
culating. Then  let  them  take  up  the  cost  in  detail : 
the  excavation,  walhng,  and  flooring  of  the  cellar,  the 
building  of  the  foundation,  the  lumber  for  the  frame 
and  covering,  the  flooring,  plastering,  and  finishing  of 
the  interior,  doors,  and  windows.  Such  a  problem  can 
be  extended  indefinitely,  to  include  furnishing,  for  in- 
stance. The  children  should  themselves  make  all  the 
measurements  and  drawings,  ascertain  the  current  prices 
of  all  material,  and  estimate  the  total  cost,  including 
labor.  The  cost  of  the  lot,  and  of  such  improvements 
as  sewer,  paving,  and  sidewalks  may  be  added ;  also 
rental  value.  Or,  the  property  may  be  sold  for  a  partial 
cash  payment  and  notes  bearing  interest.  A  fire  may 
occur  and  damage  be  estimated  and  insurance  con- 
sidered. 

The  possibiHties  of  such  a  series  of  problems  are  in- 
finite. Practically  the  whole  field  of  arithmetic  could 
be  covered.  The  limits  are  to  be  fixed  by  the  degree 
of  advancement  of  the  children  and  by  interest.  As 
soon  as  interest  wanes,  a   new  topic  should  be  taken. 


144  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

For  pupils  unequal  to  such  tasks  simpler  problems  along 
similar  lines  may  be  used,  as  the  laying  out  and  planning 
of  a  school  garden,  the  building  of  a  trellis  for  vines,  the 
making  of  kites  and  other  toys. 

In  the  study  of  the  really  practical  branches  of  the 
applications  of  percentage  many  interesting  series  of 
problems  can  be  made  that  will  give  knowledge  of  civic 
conditions  and  of  business  methods.  Under  taxation,  for 
example,  local  conditions  should  be  found  out  by  the 
children:  the  valuation,  what  percentage  of  actual 
value;  the  expenses  of  the  various  departments  of  the 
government  as  the  basis  for  taxation ;  the  fixing  of  the 
rate  upon  the  assessed  valuation;  the  taxes  paid  upon 
personal  and  real  property;  the  amount  paid  by  indi- 
viduals.    (Tliis  last  would  better  be  imaginary.) 

While  studying  interest,  it  may  be  well  to  organize  a 
bank  in  the  school  with  toy  money  and  go  through  with 
the  operations,  the  children  finding  out  by  inquiry  out- 
side how  the  business  is  carried  on. 

Interesting  and  valuable  problems  may  be  taken  from 
geography,  using  census  reports  and  other  available 
means  of  information ;  comparisons  of  cities  and  states 
in  population,  property  valuation,  business  done  in 
various  Hnes,  figured  in  ratios  and  percentages;  length 
of  journeys,  miles  of  railroad  and  steamship  Hnes; 
manufactures,  agricultural  products,  especially  local  in- 
dustries, —  all  may  be  made  to  yield  problems  innumer- 
able, while  acquainting  pupils  with  the  world  they  live 
on  and  in.  The  alert  teacher  will  find  in  the  bustling, 
environing  world  an  abundance  of  vital  material  for 
calculation. 

A  few  of  the  newer  textbooks  contain  such  problems 


Arithmetic  145 

and  suggestions  for  more.  These  should  be  supple- 
mented by  similar  problems  drawn  from  the  immediate 
environment  and  experience  of  the  school. 

The  older  books  contain  few  such  problems,  if  any. 
The  teachers  compelled  to  use  these  books  should  sub- 
stitute for  their  problems,  in  so  far  as  possible,  others 
drawn  from  present  available  sources.  These  sources 
include  the  school  and  home  life  of  the  children,  current 
events  in  the  larger  world,  and  practically  all  the  other 
subjects  in  the  school  curriculum.  Care  must  be  taken, 
however,  always  to  keep  within  the  limits  of  natural 
interest.  Many  dry  statistical  problems  found  in  some 
of  the  newer  arithmetics  are  as  truly  a  weariness  of  the 
flesh  as  the  worst  of  the  senseless  ones  of  the  older  books. 

Resume.  —  I  have  endeavored  to  make  plain  how  the 
teaching  of  arithmetic  may  be  directed  toward  its  three 
aims :  (i)  giving  facility  and  accuracy  in  the  use  of 
numbers,  (2)  training  the  children  to  "  reason  justly," 
and  (3)  imparting  such  knowledge  of  the  world  and  its 
life  as  is  expressed  largely  in  numerical  terms. 

The  first  end  is  to  be  secured  by  developing  in  the 
natural  order  of  thought  the  various  processes  and  then 
drilling  on  the  operations  until  the  simpler  ones  become 
automatic.  The  second  end  is  to  be  secured  by  seeing 
to  it  that  all  processes  are  thought  through,  substituting 
the  inductive  for  the  authoritative  method  of  approach, 
and  in  the  higher  grades  by  the  use  of  the  symbol  for 
the  unknown  quantity,  and  of  the  equation.  The  third 
end  is  to  be  secured  incidentally,  through  choosing  for 
illustration  and  practice  such  problems  as  are  real,  vital, 
and  drawn  largely  from  the  field  of  the  children's 
knowledge  and  experience. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
History 

The  First  "  Fad."  —  History  was  the  first  of  the 
"  fads "  to  find  a  lodgment  in  our  common  school 
courses  of  study.  Until  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century  the  younger  pupils  in  the  elementary  school 
studied  reading,  spelling,  and  arithmetic,  and  acquired 
the  art  of  writing.  In  addition  the  older  pupils  studied 
grammar,  and,  later,  geography  was  introduced. 

These  subjects  were  justified  from  one  or  both  of  two 
motives,  the  "  practical "  and  the  "  discipHnary." 
None  of  them  were  so  taught  as  to  be  cultural  in  the 
broad  sense.  It  is  true,  reading  opened  the  door  to  the 
broadest  culture  and  geography  might  have  been  used 
to  bestow  upon  the  children  a  wider  horizon.  But  in 
fact,  the  practical  and  disciplinary  uses  of  these  subjects 
rather  than  their  cultural  possibilities  constituted  their 
justification  and  generally  determined  the  method  of 
instruction.  It  was  not  the  province  of  the  common 
school  to  busy  itself  with  those  finer  phases  of  thought 
and  feeling,  that  enlargement  of  view,  that  we  call 
culture. 

Scant  Culture.  —  Indeed,  throughout  the  entire  course 
of  schooHng,  including  the  college,  culture  received  scant 
courtesy.  In  the  higher  institutions  discipline  was  the 
aim.  Even  the  practical  was  not  considered.  The 
secondary  schools  were  given  over  to  Latin,  Greek,  and 

146 


History  147 

mathematics.  And  even  these  two  ancient  languages, 
which  at  the  time  of  the  Renaissance  had  brought  to 
hght  an  ancient  culture  and  had  established  the  new, 
had  fallen  from  their  high  estate  and  had  become  mere 
disciplinary  agents.  The  "  Ihad  "  and  the  "^neid  "  were 
simply  proofs  of  the  rules  of  accent  and  prosody  set 
forth  in  the  grammars.  The  "  Anabasis  "  illustrated  ad- 
mirably the  adverbial  accusative.  "  Caesar's  Commen- 
taries "  were  perfect  models  of  indirect  discourse. 

The  colleges  continued  these  discipHnary  studies  and 
added  metaphysics  in  the  subjects  of  logic,  psychology, 
philosophy,  and  ethics  with  a  theological  squint.  But 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  century  came  a  great  awakening, 
and  history,  the  natural  sciences,  English  literature, 
modern  languages,  the  arts,  entered  with  a  rush  until 
the  curriculum  became  an  overcrowded  jumble,  an  un- 
arranged  syncope  of  human  learning,  out  of  which 
gradually,  by  correlation,  by  excision,  by  selection,  an 
orderly  educational  course  of  study  is  coming,  which 
will  be  practical,  disciplinary,  and  rich. 

In  the  common  elementary  schools  history  was  the 
first  innovation,  a  study  not  practical  in  the  Gradgrind 
sense,  and,  as  taught,  not  possessing  great  disciplinary 
value.  It  was  informing  and  had  a  decided  ethical  pur- 
pose. Indeed  it  is  to  this  latter  function  that  its  rapid 
extension  in  our  schools  was  doubtless  due. 

History  and  the  Civil  War.  —  The  sudden  popularity 
of  history  was  coincidental  with  the  close  of  our  great 
Civil  War.  Naturally  and  properly  the  history  taught 
was  the  history  of  the  United  States.  The  intensity  of 
feeling  roused  over  our  great  conflict  created  a  strong 
desire  to  train  the  youth  to  patriotism.    Those  who  had 


148  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

borne  a  part  in  the  struggle  naturally  desired  that 
their  descendants  be  familiar  with  it  in  all  its  details  of 
cause  and  execution.  Naturally,  too,  the  importance 
of  a  knowledge  of  the  other  great  events  of  our  national 
life  was  realized,  and  so  it  very  quickly  became  a  law  in 
most  States  that  the  schools  should  teach  the  history 
of  the  United  States. 

A  New  Motive.  —  Thus  the  principle  was  established 
that  pubHc  schools  were  directly  concerned  with  citizen- 
ship as  such.  From  this  the  step  to  the  introduction  of 
other  'subjects  that  are  highly  educational,  and  that 
tend  to  produce  citizens  richly  furnished  with  all  that 
makes  for  larger  Hfe,  was  logical  and  easily  taken. 

War  in  Earlier  Histories.  —  The  earlier  histories  for 
schools  were  Httle  more  than  chronicles  of  dates  and  rec- 
ords of  wars.  The  Civil  War  was  the  most  conspicuous 
event  and  was  treated  in  minute  detail.  Infants  were 
set  to  judging  of  miUtary  campaigns.  Sectional  par- 
tisanship was  everywhere  manifest.  In  the  North  the 
southern  contestants  were  wicked  "  Rebels."  In  the 
South  the  northern  contestants  were  unprincipled,  in- 
vading "  Yanks." 

Next  to  the  Civil  War  the  War  of  the  Revolution  filled 
the  most  space.  Here,  too,  an  exaggerated  patriotism 
ruled ;  the  wicked  red-coated  British  were  everywhere 
whipped  by  the  brave,  virtuous  patriots.  Right  was  all 
on  one  side,  wrong  all  on  the  other. 

Marking  an  Epoch.  —  However  defective  the  books 
and  however  biased  the  teaching,  the  introduction  of 
history  into  our  elementary  schools  marked  an  epoch. 
It  was  a  definite  admission  by  the  taxpayer  and  voter, 
the  financial  supporter   of   public   schools,  that   these 


History  149 

schools  could  properly  provide  instruction  in  subjects 
on  other  grounds  than  their  economic  value  or  their 
disciplinary  effect.  It  was  the  first  distinct  admission 
by  the  public  school  authorities  of  the  duty  or  even  the 
right  of  these  schools  to  take  cognizance  of  the  demands 
of  the  higher  natures  of  children.  Compared  with  this 
great  step,  inferior  method  and  doubtful  results  are  of 
little  consequence.  Indeed  most  of  the  broadening  and 
enriching  subjects  have  come  into  the  curriculum  limp- 
ing, to  be  cured  afterward.  '- 

Better  Books  and  Methods.  —  Both  textbooks  on 
history  and  methods  of  teaching  it  have  greatly  improved. 
Some  of  the  more  recent  textbooks  have  the  genuine  mer- 
its of  accuracy  and  of  a  readable,  interesting  style.  The 
methods  used  depend,  of  course,  upon  the  skill  and  wis- 
dom of  the  teacher.  Most  of  the  textbooks  offer  Httle 
help  in  this  regard.  In  addition  to  the  textbooks  there 
are  several  history  books  for  children,  some  of  which 
are  used  to  supplement  the  textbooks,  that  are  worthy 
of  commendation. 

Limits  of  the  Course.  —  At  the  present  time,  in  most 
elementary  schools,  the  history  of  the  United  States  is 
taught  from  a  two-book  series,  frequently  supplemented 
by  "  stories  "  of  men  and  events.  It  is  the  exception 
to  find  any  other  history  in  these  schools.  In  the  high 
schools  "  general  history  "  is  taught  in  chunks  from  a 
compendium ;  in  the  better  schools  it  is  expanded  and 
supplemented  by  reading.  History  of  the  United  States 
is  here  too  often  either  hastily  reviewed  or  entirely 
ignored.  In  the  college,  history  is  largely  a  matter  of 
speciaUzation.  So  that  it  is  quite  possible  for  a  graduate 
from  a  first-class  college  to  have  received  no  instruction 


ISO  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

in  the  history  of  his  owti  country  except  the  very  small 
amount  of  predigested  information  given  in  the  grammar 
school.  This  is  no  mere  guess.  Any  community  and  any 
school  system  can  produce  college  graduates  who  have  the 
vaguest  notions,  if  they  have  any  at  all,  of  the  differences 
between  Hamilton  and  Jefferson,  or  just  why  the  war 
with  Mexico  was  fought.     This  truly  is  an  unhappy  state. 

Reasonable  Demands.  —  Is  it  unreasonable  to  ask 
that  children  who  have  completed  a  grammar  school 
course  should  be  very  familiar  with  the  leading  facts 
of  our  national  development,  territorial,  industrial, 
political,  and  social,  with,  as  a  background,  a  little 
knowledge  of  the  other  great  nations  of  the  past  and 
present,  especially  of  the  world-renowned  names  that  are 
significant  of  the  evolution  of  ci\-ilization ;  that  high 
school  graduates  should  have  a  fairly  definite  knowledge 
of  the  great  men  and  great  nations  of  history  and  a  pretty 
thorough  acquaintance  with  the  manifest  noteworthy 
events  of  American  history,  and  also  some  knowledge 
of  the  metaphysical,  commercial,  social,  or  ethical  motives 
that  caused  them ;  that  college  graduates  should  have 
a  quite  clear  view  of  the  philosophy  of  history  with  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  at  least  one  epoch  or  phase  or 
nation  besides  our  own,  and  also  a  definite  and  philo- 
sophical familiarity  with  the  doctrines  and  the  passions 
that  have  made  American  liistory  ? 

Why  Results  are  Poor.  —  If  this  is  not  an  extreme 
demand,  it  is  one  of  which  the  present  state  offers  Httle 
even  of  promise.  For  the  average  student  who  passes 
through  our  school  system  from  kindergarten  to  college, 
not  one  of  these  conditions  is  met.  Why?  In  the  ele- 
mentary schools,  because  of  a  method,  imposed  by  au- 


History  151 

thorities  and  textbooks,  compounded  of  ignorance  and 
tradition.  In  the  secondary  schools,  because  of  a  shilly- 
shally vibration  between  devotion  to  a  compendious 
textbook  on  the  one  hand  and  an  aping  of  university 
specialization  on  the  other.  In  the  colleges,  because 
of  extreme  speciaHzation  under  an  elective  system  and 
of  sheer  poor  teaching,  —  the  great  defect  of  all  our  col- 
leges, —  in  this  instance,  a  taking  for  granted  knowledge 
that  does  not  exist  and  a  foolish  rushing  into  "  original 
investigation,"  before  laying  a  foundation  in  knowledge 
of  the  broad  facts  of  history  and  of  the  great  world  move- 
ments. 

What  to  Do.  —  What  can  be  done  about  it?  As  this 
book  is  concerned  chiefly  with  the  elementary  schools, 
I  shall  not  attempt  now  to  discuss  the  teaching  of  history 
in  higher  schools,  except  in  the  briefest  suggestions. 

What  should  the  elementary  school  attempt  in  history, 
and  how? 

Need  of  General  History. — Unquestionably  the  history 
of  our  own  country  should  be  paramount  here.  But 
this  does  not  mean  that  the  history  of  other  nations 
should  be  ignored.  A  knowledge  of  some  phases  of 
world  history  is  necessary  to  a  comprehension  of  our 
own  national  life.  Even  children  need  a  background 
for  their  pictures.  There  is  no  knowledge  without  com- 
parison. If  a  basis  for  comparison  is  not  supplied  in 
facts,  the  children  will  of  necessity  create  one  from  the 
imagination.  We  need  patriotism,  yet  a  patriotism  not 
narrow  and  ignorant,  but  broad  and  intelligent.  This 
is  stimulated  by  a  knowledge  of  our  country's  struggles, 
of  its  heroes  and  of  its  triumphs,  not  viewed  alone,  how- 
ever, but  rather  in  comparison  with  the  heroes,  the  strug- 


152  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

gles,  the  triumphs,  and  defeats  of  other  peoples.  The 
older  pupils,  as  they  begin  to  grasp  the  philosophical 
causes  that  lie  back  of  all  our  history,  need  more  and 
more  this  comparison  with  the  history  of  other  times  and 
nations.  Hence  in  all  grades  there  should  be  presented 
judicious  selections  of  universal  history  as  well  as  the  his- 
tory of  our  owTi  nation,  particularly  of  those  phases  and 
events  of  universal  history  that  were  both  the  prelude 
and  the  cause  of  our  own  national  origin  and  develop- 
ment. 

Aims  of  Teaching  History.  —  What  are  the  aims  of 
instruction  in  history  ? 

First,  the  development  of  intelUgent  patriotism. 

Second,  to  furnish  a  basis  for  ethical  judgment  obtained 
from  a  study  of  the  efforts  of  men  to  realize  their  ideals, 
the  obstacles  they  have  met,  and  the  success  or  failure 
attending  these  efforts,  with  reasons  for  such  success  or 
failure. 

Third,  the  broadening  of  the  mind  and  the  widening 
of  the  horizon  that  necessarily  follow  a  knowledge  of 
human  activities  on  a  large  field  and  under  many  vary- 
ing conditions. 

Fourth,  a  sense  of  the  uniformity  of  human  motives, 
of  the  solidarity  of  the  race,  of  the  dependence  of  the 
present  upon  the  past,  —  the  evolution  of  civilization 
through  the  action  of  universal,  constant  forces,  ■ —  and 
a  belief  in  the  brotherhood  of  man.  r , 

Naturally  the  possible  appreciation  of  these  motives 
will  vary  with  the  age  and  intellectual  capacities  of  the 
children.  But  even  the  higher  aims  should  be  in  the 
minds  of  teachers  of  all  grades,  and  some  impressions 
regarding  them  can  be  made  upon  even  the  quite  young 


History  1 53 

and  immature.  Of  necessity  the  paramount  aim  for  the 
younger  children  will  be  patriotism,  as  broadly  intelli- 
gent as  their  mental  states  allow.  This  requires,  as  has 
been  said,  some  knowledge  of  those  great  names  and 
important  events  of  world  history  that  serve  as  a  back- 
ground for  our  own  history. 

To  secure  the  ends  outlined,  what  material  should  be 
used  and  how  should  it  be  treated,  first  with  the  quite 
young  children,  second  with  those  older  ? 

As  prehminary  to  this  discussion  it  is  necessary  to 
consider  two  debatable  questions. 

Place  of  Chronology.  —  The  first  concerns  the  chrono- 
logical order  of  events.  Is  it  best  to  follow  this  order 
in  teaching  history  to  young  children  ? 

The  importance  of  the  chronological  order  is,  of  course, 
the  relation  of  cause  to  effect.  It  is  impossible  to  have  a 
comprehensive  or  philosophical  view  of  an  epoch  or  even 
an  event  without  a  knowledge  of  what  has  gone  before. 
For  instance,  the  French  Revolution  as  a  tale  of  un- 
governed  passions  and  mob  violence  may  be  sufficient  to 
itself,  but  its  real  significance  is  lost  imless  it  is  prefaced 
by  a  view  of  the  previous  history,  not  only  of  France,  but 
of  Europe.  The  wider  the  knowledge  of  what  went  be- 
fore, the  more  significant  is  the  story  of  this  era  of  blood 
and  fury,  and  knowledge  of  both  the  revolution  and  its 
causes  is  necessary  to  a  comprehension  of  the  Napoleonic 
era. 

Our  own  Revolution  is  almost  meaningless  without 
acquaintance,  not  only  with  the  earlier  colonial  history, 
but  with  European  conditions  as  well. 

This  consideration  determines  the  importance  of  the 
chronological  order  in  teaching  history  in  high  school  and 


154  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

college,  in  the  latter  especially  as  a  necessary  condition 
to  speciaHzation.  But  we  cannot  hope  to  give  young 
children  a  philosophical  or  comprehensive  view  of  even 
those  occurrences  that  they  may  study  with  interest  and 
profit.  At  first  we  can  give  them  only  simple  and  in- 
dividual impressions.  The  only  causes  that  they  can 
comprehend  are  present  and  manifest  causes.  Chronol- 
ogy means  little  to  a  child.  To  him  "  Once  upon  a  time  " 
is  as  definite  as  " In  the  eighteenth  century,"  and  "Long, 
long  ago  "  as  "  Fifty  years  ago."  He  has  no  compre- 
hension of  long  periods  of  time.  The  child  in  the  primary 
grades  can  understand  that  once  his  grandfather's  grand- 
father, and  other  people  who  lived  in  this  country  at  that 
time,  thought  they  were  not  fairly  treated  and  were  not 
willing  to  be  ruled  by  people  across  the  ocean,  who  made 
them  pay  taxes  without  giving  them  an  opportunity  to 
say  anything  about  it,  and  so  they  made  Washington 
their  general,  fought  these  rulers,  drove  them  out  and 
elected  their  own  rulers.  He  can  understand  that  La- 
fayette and  other  Frenchmen  came  over  and  helped  them. 
But  he  cannot  understand  the  deep  significance  of  this 
rebellion  or  the  political  condition  of  Europe  which  made 
success  possible. 

For  the  very  young  children,  history  should  be  re- 
duced to  stories  of  heroes  without  much  regard  for  the 
order  of  events. 

The  Psychological  Order.  —  Moreover,  there  is  a 
psychological  relation  of  conditions  and  events,  often 
quite  remote  from  their  chronological  order.  There  is 
doubtless  a  certain  amount  of  truth  in  the  "  development 
epoch  "  theory,  which  is,  briefly,  that  each  child  during 
his  mental  growth  passes  through  the  various  stages  that 


History  155 

the  race  has  passed  through  in  the  process  of  its  evolu- 
tion ;  that,  for  example,  he  becomes  in  turn  a  savage,  a 
nomad,  and  the  rest.  At  least  there  is  proof  enough  in 
this  theory  to  justify  the  presentation  at  the  same  time 
of  phases  of  history  that  are  similar  to  one  another  and 
correspond  somewhat  to  the  present  state  of  the  child, 
without  regard  to  their  chronological  order. 

"  The  childhood  of  the  race  "  is  not  merely  a  distant 
state  to  be  studied  in  monuments  and  ancient  heroic 
poems ;  it  is  an  ever  present  fact.  As  far  back  as  history 
goes  there  were  living,  side  by  side,  nations  in  a  state  of 
advanced  civilization  sloping  toward  decay,  and  savages, 
as  well  as  people  just  emerging  into  a  semi-civilization. 
The  racial  childhood  portrayed  in  Homer  existed  at  the 
same  time  with  the  old  and  mature  civilization  of  Egypt 
and  nations  farther  east.  When  Rome  was  declining 
toward  her  fall,  the  Germanic  peoples  were  just  begin- 
ning to  look  forward  to  their  toga  virilis. 

And  it  is  so  to-day.  We  have  all  stages,  from  ancient 
and  decadent  Persia,  through  the  declining  Latin  races, 
the  \igorous  adult  Saxon  peoples,  the  young,  unde- 
veloped, but  advancing  Russian  nation,  the  childish 
Filipino,  to  the  African  savage,  yet  in  swaddling  clothes. 

Hence  stories  of  peoples  in  a  state  of  racial  childhood 
may  be  obtained  from  any  age,  and  for  the  purposes  for 
which  such  stories  are  profitable,  the  era  makes  little 
difference.  A  group  of  stories  of  primitive  heroes  taken 
from  many  nations  in  as  many  ages  is  quite  as  good  for 
ethical  ends  as  one  taken  from  a  single  age.  And  one 
order  of  arrangement  is  practically  as  good  as  another. 

The  best  way  to  inculcate  patriotism  is  not  always  to 
tell  of  our  own  heroes  alone,  and  of  their  successful  ex- 


156  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

ploits  against  their  foes,  but  to  give  stories  of  brave  men 
who  did  brave  deeds  in  war  or  peace,  who  made  sacrifices, 
who  lived  good  lives  for  their  country,  whatever  that 
country  was.  Buddha,  Aristides,  Horatius,  Gustavus, 
Tell,  Winkelried,  Garibaldi,  Toussaint,  Gladstone,  plus 
Washington,  Lincoln,  and  our  other  national  heroes, 
make  a  better  list  for  this  purpose  than  our  heroes  alone, 
and  in  such  a  list  for  such  a  purpose  chronology  cuts  no 
figure. 

Chronology  subordinated  in  Primary  Schools.  —  In 
the  primary  schools  the  orderly  teaching  of  history  may 
easily  be  overdone,  and  the  very  end  we  seek  be  lost  by 
an  attempt  to  force  chronology  upon  the  children  before 
they  are  ready  for  it.  In  the  primary  schools,  then, 
where  history  is  taught  almost  wholly  for  its  ethical 
value,  chronology  should  receive  the  sKghtest  attention, 
and  that  should  be  confined  wholly  to  the  history  of  the 
United  States.  In  the  general  history  stories  used  in  the 
grades  no  regard  should  be  paid  to  the  time  order. 

Relations  that  Primary  Children  can  Grasp.  —  Chil- 
dren, such  as  are  found  in  the  average  primary  school,  can 
have  slight  conception  of  the  relations  of  effects  to  re- 
mote causes.  The  effects  must  be  immediate  and  glar- 
ing for  them.  Moreover,  psychological  relations  are 
much  more  easily  grasped  than  geographical  or  political 
relations. 

Injustice  calls  for  immediate  resistance,  or  poetic 
Justice.  Sudden  danger  calls  for  bravery.  Moral  emer- 
gencies demand  moral  courage.  Suffering  is  cause  for 
pity  and  help.  "  Freedom  to  worship  God  "  is  reason 
enough  for  the  coming  of  the  Pilgrims.  The  long,  com- 
plex struggle  of  creeds  and  the  contests  of  clerical  and 


History  157 

civil  powers  which  were  the  remote  causes  of  the  pil- 
grimage are  meaningless  to  children.  The  noble  triumph 
of  Joseph  teaches  its  own  lesson  and  satisfies  the  instinct 
for  poetic  justice,  whereas  the  ceaseless  struggle  of  a 
commercial  race  against  both  the  agricultural  and  the 
miHtary,  which  the  history  of  the  Jews  in  Egypt  really 
typifies,  is  for  adults  only.  General  Putnam  riding  down 
the  perilous  steps  is  picturesque  and  inspiring  to  children, 
and  requires  neither  time  relations  nor  philosophy  to  give 
it  force.  So  the  immortal  story  of  Sir  Philip  is  worth 
more  to  primary  children  than  the  list  of  England's 
sovereigns  "  in  order  duly  set." 

All  of  these  historical  tales  rest  for  their  interest  upon 
a  psychological  motive.  The  relation  of  effect  to  cause  is 
direct,  immediate,  and  manifest.  Hence,  they  are  good 
stories  to  serve  as  an  introduction  to  history.  Groups 
of  such  stories,  selected  and  arranged  with  regard  to  the 
natural  development  of  children's  interests,  with  an 
ethical  rather  than  a  poHtical  or  an  informing  purpose, 
and  giving  especial  attention  to.  the  history  of  our  own 
national  hfe,  constitute  the  best  material  for  history 
teaching  in  the  primary  grades. 

In  the  Grammar  Grades.  —  In  the  grammar  grades, 
naturally,  increasing  attention  should  be  paid  to  the 
sequential  order.  The  history  of  the  United  States  may 
here  be  presented  chronologically.  But  even  in  these 
grades,  care  must  be  taken  not  to  overwork  chronology. 
The  earlier  ethical  motive  has  not  been  outlived.  Nor 
have  the  children  suddenly  become  able  to  appre- 
ciate the  historical  succession  of  events  as  explained  by 
social  philosophy. 

In  general  history  the  psychological  order  still  is  better 


158  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

than  the  time  order.  An  orderly  knowledge  of  world 
history  is  as  yet  beyond  the  children. 

In  the  higher  grammar  grades,  then,  while  the  study  of 
the  history  of  our  country  may  be  pursued  strictly  in  the 
order  of  events,  general  history  should  still  be  taught 
chiefly  in  selected  incidents  or  series  of  incidents.  Bi- 
ography may  give  way  to  a  considerable  degree  to  the 
stories  of  great  epochs,  treated  in  an  orderly  manner  so  as 
to  emphasize  increasingly  the  relations  of  these  events  to 
consequences  less  immediate  than  those  formerly  con- 
sidered. Geographical  motives,  such,  for  example,  as  the 
effect  of  mountain  barriers  between  nations,  and  certain 
poHtical  motives,  such  as  desire  of  conquest,  may  be  in- 
troduced. The  history  of  England  and  of  certain  other 
European  nations  as  related  to  the  settlement  of  America 
should  be  given  with  some  fullness.  Especially  should 
the  history  of  England  as  it  bears  upon  the  struggle  for 
independence  receive  quite  full  and  orderly  treatment. 
Without  such  a  background  it  is  impossible  to  under- 
stand the  birth  and  childhood  of  the  American  nation. 

In  the  High  Schools.  —  In  the  high  school  the  chrono- 
logical order  should  rule,  to  make  plain  the  dependence 
of  the  development  of  each  age  upon  the  preceding,  and 
to  give  that  enlargement  of  vision  which  constitutes  one 
of  the  chief  values  of  the  study  of  history. 

In  the  Colleges.  —  In  the  college  the  study  should  be, 
of  course,  chronological,  but  it  should  be  more.  It 
should  be  philosophical  and  should  give  the  student  an 
insight  into  the  deeper  human  motives  of  action,  out  of 
which  grow  ideals,  moral  judgment,  and  an  appreciation 
of  the  relations  of  both  to  individual  conduct  and  to  the 
progress  of  humanity. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

History  {Continued) 

The  second  of  the  preliminary  questions  to  be  discussed 
is  the  place  of  biography  in  the  teaching  of  history. 
Should  history  be  taught  to  children  as  a  series  of  great 
events,  the  evolution  of  an  ever  changing  society,  or 
as  centering  about  the  lives  of  significant  men?  Shall 
we  follow  Freeman  or  Carlyle  in  our  teaching? 

Nature  of  History.  —  Naturally  this  inquiry  raises 
the  larger  question  of  what  history  is.  Is  it  a  narrative 
of  evolution  due  to  countless  unconscious  forces,  geo- 
graphical, psychological,  social,  or  is  it  the  record  of 
master  minds  controlling  their  fellows  and  consciously 
leading  to  determined  ends?  This  is  too  great  a  ques- 
tion for  discussion  here,  except  as  it  touches  the  teach- 
ing of  history  to  the  young.  Indeed,  it  can  be  answered 
only  by  a  compromise  statement.  History  is  doubtless 
the  result  of  both  conscious  and  unconscious  forces. 
Geographical  conditions,  the  forces  of  earth,  air,  and  sky, 
affecting  man's  physical  wants  and  their  gratification; 
psychological  conditions  —  the  aspirations  of  men  and 
the  consequent  struggles  to  satisfy  them ;  social  condi- 
tions—  the  relations  of  men  with  men,  governed  by  love 
or  hate,  need  or  greed,  the  never  ceasing  battle  between 
those  who  would  enslave  and  those  who  would  be  free, 
—  these  are  great  forces,  and  without  doubt  they  largely 
determine  the  activities  of  individuals,  and  hence  of 
nations  and  of  races. 

159 


l6o  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

On  the  other  hand,  great  and  significant  movements 
must  have  leaders.  And  not  only  so,  these  movements 
sometimes  are  personified  in  the  leaders,  without  whom 
they  never  would  have  occurred,  because  the  masses 
would  not  even  have  known  their  needs  or  have  had  the 
desire  to  change. 

It  is  impossible  to  conceive  the  Jewish  exodus  and  long 
wandering  without  Moses.  In  an  unusual  sense  Gari- 
baldi was  Free  Italy,  and  Mohammed  was  the  fanatical, 
bloody,  conquering  Moslem  host. 

In  the  college,  the  teaching  of  history  should  treat 
fully  both  these  sources  of  historic  movements,  and  also 
should  train  the  student  to  discriminate  causes.  The 
philosophic  view,  which  is  the  proper  college  view  of  the 
subject,  includes  of  necessity  both  conscious  or  personal 
forces  and  those  greater  unconscious  motives  which  may 
be  called  cosmic ;  and  this  view  is  necessary  to  the  ma- 
ture student. 

History  for  the  Child. — How  is  it  with  the  child? 
What  is  the  relation  of  these  broad  views  of  the 
subject  to  the  ends  of  teaching  history  to  him,  as 
enumerated  in  the  preceding  chapter:  ethical  training, 
—  especially  in  patriotism,  —  moral  judgment,  and  cul- 
ture? 

Moral  Judgment  Personal.  —  To  the  immature  mind 
all  moral  states  and  judgments  are  strictly  personal. 
Indeed,  this  is  true  of  most  older  people.  Few  of  us  can 
conceive  abstract  moral  conditions  as  applied  to  national 
life  or  even  corporate  life.  When  we  do  try  to  picture 
the  moral  characteristics  of  the  action  of  a  mass,  we  unify 
the  mass  and  make  a  single  magnified  individual.  With 
children  this  is  especially  true. 


History  l6l 

The  Culture  Element.  —  The  element  that  we  call 
culture  is  not  confined  to  mature  minds,  of  course,  but  in 
immature  minds  necessarily  it  is  immature,  —  the  "  ever 
flowing."  It  is  an  intangible,  almost  volatile,  product 
of  experiences  that  to  the  individual  are  rich.  If  the 
individual  be  a  child,  the  experiences  must  be  childish, 
and  the  resulting  culture  childish.  Any  system  of  educa- 
tion that  tends  to  secure  mature  views  and  the  expression 
of  mature  judgments  from  children  is  distorting,  shallow, 
and  harmful.  It  makes  prigs,  and  fattens  that  conceit 
that  is  necessarily  a  bar  to  growth. 

Danger  of  Generalizations.  —  The  most  common  form 
of  this  particular  evil  in  our  schools  is  thrusting  into  the 
mouths  of  children  those  sweeping  generaHzations  that 
of  necessity  they  must  take  entire  or  not  at  all.  This 
is  most  manifest  in  the  ordinary  way  of  teaching  morals, 
giving  children  those  half  truths  that  are  commonly  stated 
in  proverbs,  and  expecting  them  to  base  moral  judgments 
upon  them.  Moral  precepts  given  in  the  ordinary 
allopathic  doses  are  responsible  for  much  real  immorahty. 

The  bearing  of  all  this  upon  the  subject  in  hand  is  this. 
GcneraHzation  is  the  last  product  of  thought  upon  a  series 
of  phenomena.  Along  the  route  from  the  first  observa- 
tion to  the  generalization  are  thousands  of  pitfalls. 
Even  trained  minds  often  fall  into  one  or  more  of  these. 
Witness  all  the  strange,  discarded  theories  of  science, 
from  that  of  the  earth  resting  on  a  turtle's  back  to  that 
of  the  hot  polar  sea. 

In  history  it  is  especially  difficult  to  form  clear  con- 
ceptions of  the  motives  and  causes  of  great  movements 
as  such.  The  crusades  and  the  world-wide  emancipation 
movement  were  due   to  so  many  mixed  motives  that 


1 62  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

generalization  with  the  eyes  shut  is  far  easier  than  scien- 
tific analysis. 

When  such  master  minds  as  Hegel  and  Lecky  go  astray 
in  attempts  to  synthesize  movements  involving  the  heart- 
beats, the  appetites,  the  prejudices,  the  passions,  of 
millions  of  individuals,  and  to  treat  of  their  combined 
activities  as  a  single  force,  what  can  be  expected  of  the 
ordinary  mind,  and  especially  of  a  child's  mind? 

In  physics,  the  resultant  of  many  forces  may  be  ac- 
curately measured ;  not  so  in  metaphysics.  But  this  is 
what  history,  considering  great  national  or  racial  move- 
ments, assumes  to  do.  This  is  the  philosophy  of  history, 
and  hard  as  it  is,  it  is  proper  effort  for  the  human  mind 
to  study  man,  not  merely  in  the  individual,  but  in  the 
mass  composed  of  individuals.  I  pursue  a  certain  course 
each  day  from  mixed  motives.  My  ninety  million 
neighbors  do  likewise.  The  resultant  of  these  ninety 
million  and  one  courses  of  action  constitutes  the  history 
of  the  United  States  at  the  present  time.  It  shapes  all 
poHcies,  fixes  all  compromises,  is  responsible  for  all  good 
and  all  evil  that  come  into  our  national  life,  and  from  it 
into  each  individual  life.  But  to  determine  what  this 
resultant  is  and  to  state  it  clearly  is  not  so  easy.  Few 
succeed  in  doing  it.  Only  the  historian  long  removed 
from  its  passions,  with  the  perspective  of  distance,  can 
hope  to  approximate  a  true  conception  of  it.  But  this 
is  history,  and  the  mind  trying  to  grasp  it  receives  a 
training,  a  culture,  that  few  studies  can  supply.  The 
young  child,  however,  who  thinks  as  a  child,  under- 
stands as  a  child,  cannot  touch  it.  If  we  force  it  upon 
him,  he  gets  mere  words.  For  him,  motive  is  individual, 
actions  and  results  are  individual,  history  is  individual. 


History  1 63 

Carlyle  rather  than  Freeman.  —  It  follows  that  in  order 
to  secure  the  ends  aimed  at  in  teaching  history  to  children, 
the  doctrine  of  Carlyle,  rather  than  that  of  Freeman, 
should  rule  in  the  main.  The  study  of  history  by  chil- 
dren should  be  largely  the  study  of  heroes,  individuals 
who  loom  large,  who  appeal  to  the  imagination,  who  may 
become  ideals.  In  time  Lincoln  and  Lee  will  come  to 
personify  all  that  was  greatest  and  best  in  the  contrasting 
ideals  that  fought  to  a  finish  in  our  Civil  War;  and  to 
children  it  is  much  better  that  they  should  be  so  pre- 
sented and  studied,  than  that  time  should  be  consumed  in 
learning  the  details  of  military  campaigns,  now  of  im- 
portance only  to  the  professional  soldier. 

Other  Centers  of  Study.  —  This  general  statement  may 
be  modified  to  a  certain  extent.  Sometimes  a  single  great 
and  picturesque  event,  such  as  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill 
or  the  signing  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  may 
make  a  better  central  study  than  the  name  of  any  indi- 
vidual. The  important  truth  is  that  individual  narrative, 
with  all  the  definiteness,  positiveness,  and  picturesque 
detail  of  a  novel,  is  better  history  for  children  than  either 
the  chronicle  or  the  philosophical  generahzation  of  the 
"  sweep  of  events." 

Subjects  must  be  Vital.  —  In  the  primary  schools  it 
makes  little  difference  in  what  ages  the  scenes  of  the 
narrative  are  laid,  so  long  as  they  are  "  once  upon  a  time," 
But  the  subjects  must  be  vital,  and  must  have  a  direct 
bearing  upon  one  or  more  of  the  ends  for  which  history 
is  taught,  and  the  story  must  be  vivid  and  convincing. 

In  the  grammar  schools,  along  with  a  somewhat  more 
orderly  treatment  of  the  subject,  events  as  such  may  re- 
ceive fuller  consideration.    Not  only  may  causal  time 


164  What  Children   Study  and  Why- 

sequences  begin  to  appear  in  the  course,  but  to  a  degree 
the  hero  may  give  place  to  the  group,  the  "  Black  Knight, 
with  his  single  lance,"  to  the  army  following  its  leader. 
But  the  general  method  may  not  be  changed.  The  time 
has  not  come  for  much  generalization,  nor  for  the  syn- 
thesizing of  individual  acts  into  the  acts  of  masses.  The 
fields  studied  must  still  be  small  and  easily  scanned.  The 
indi\ddual  must  still  be  paramount. 

The  Local  Center.  —  There  must  always  be  a  local 
center  of  interest  of  major  significance,  about  which  events 
and  personahties  of  minor  consequence  naturally  group 
themselves.  Such  centers  may  be  the  names  of  great 
leaders,  as  Richard  of  the  Lion  Heart,  the  names  of  places, 
as  Runnymede,  or  single  important  events  like  the  Dred 
Scott  decision,  or  even  wider  movements,  provided 
they  are  definite  and  picturesque,  like  the  "  Children's 
Crusade."  But  they  must  be  real  centers,  significant  and 
suggestive,  and  they  must  be  so  selected  that  they  will 
surely  find  apperceiving  centers  in  the  children's  minds  to 
welcome  them,  and  then  will  create  new  centers.  In  the 
choice  of  such  events  the  rules  as  to  chronology  laid  down 
in  the  preceding  chapter  should  be  heeded.  Remember 
that  in  the  grammar  school  the  chronological  order  of 
American  history  may  be  followed  with  some  closeness, 
but  in  general  history  it  is  still  of  slight  consequence. 
In  these  grades  the  advance  in  logical  thinking  and  in 
the  comprehension  of  causal  relations  should  receive 
recognition  rather  in  the  selection  of  central  subjects  and 
in  the  grouping  of  related  events  and  persons  about  these, 
than  in  the  chronological  order. 

Take,  for  example,  the  characters  and  the  events  that 
center  about  the  name  of  Queen  EHzabeth.    Many  events 


History  165 

of  sufficient  significance  in  themselves  to  serve  as  topics 
for  volumes  of  history  find  in  the  unique  personality  of 
the  "  Virgin  Queen  "  a  center  at  once  unifying  and  pic- 
turesque. For  the  young  student  just  opening  his  eyes 
to  the  relations  of  history,  better  than  the  chronological 
order,  better  than  the  logical  sequence  of  events,  is  this 
single  striking  individual.  Bacon  and  the  birth  of 
modern  science,  Raleigh  and  the  early  settlements  of 
the  New  World,  Shakespeare  and  the  literary  flood, 
Queen  Mary  and  the  Spanish  Armada,  with  all  the  con- 
fused struggles  of  churches  and  states,  —  a  morass  in 
wliich  the  youth  is  so  easily  lost,  —  all  these  seem  to  solve 
themselves  in  the  person  of  the  queen.  At  least  the 
young  student  who  is  taught  to  group  them  all  about  her 
gets  a  clear  picture  of  events  and  their  relations  that 
is  quite  sufficient  for  his  needs,  and  vastly  more  satis- 
factory than  any  other  possible  view. 

In  all  grades,  at  least  below  the  college,  the  choice  of 
centers  of  historical  interest  is  of  the  utmost  importance, 
greatly  transcending  that  of  chronological  sequence. 
Grouping  occurrences  about  a  logical  center  avoids  both 
the  scrappiness  of  disconnected  stories  and  the  tedium 
of  chronology.  It  secures  perspective  and  balance, 
which  both  the  other  methods  lack. 

Need  of  Discrimination.  —  A  most  important  corollary 
to  the  above  advocacy  of  the  use  of  centers  of  interest 
in  teaching  history  is  the  need  of  discrimination  in  re- 
gard to  what  to  teach.  Perhaps  the  chief  objection 
to  the  chronological  sequence  is  the  deadly  monot- 
ony due  to  the  lack  of  discriminating  emphasis.  This  is 
especially  noticeable  in  those  compendiums  of  histor- 
ical facts  that  commonly  serve  as  "  school  histories." 


l66  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

Nothing  stands  out.  All  events  arc  reduced  to  the  dead 
level  of  the  chronicle.  The  date  is  "  the  thing,"  and  each 
date  must  receive  its  appropriate  tag,  all  of  equal  size 
and  of  the  same  color.  This  is  historical  impartiality 
with  a  vengeance.  If  any  one  thinks  this  stricture  ex- 
aggerated, let  him  select  any  six  school  histories  and  try 
to  read  them.  If  this  does  not  result  in  a  loss  of  historical 
perspective,  it  will  be  because  the  soporific  qualities  of 
the  books  save  him. 

The  Good  Story.  —  Few  historians,  even  the  great 
ones,  can  tell  a  good  story,  and  those  who  do  succeed  in 
this  are  likely  to  be  accused  by  their  rivals  of  being 
"  literary  rather  than  scientific,"  —  Macaulay,  for  ex- 
ample. Be  this  as  it  may,  I  have  no  doubt  that  the 
historian  who  can  tell  a  good  story,  still  keeping  within 
the  metaphysical  bounds  of  truth,  is  the  one  who  will 
find  the  readers  and  will  exert  the  widest  and  most 
beneficial  influence.  Herodotus  and  Xenophon  were 
good  story  tellers.  So  were  Livy  and  Caesar  and  Tacitus. 
So  in  later  times  have  been  Froude,  Macaulay,  Pres- 
cott,  Parkman,  and  John  Fiske,  not  to  mention  other 
conspicuous  examples. 

At  any  rate,  and  especially  for  children,  history  must 
be  story,  and  the  writers  of  history  for  schools  should  tell 
stories,  instead  of  being,  as  they  are  in  the  main,  the 
dullest  of  chroniclers.  Scott's  *'  Tales  of  a  Grandfather," 
not  to  mention  his  novels,  the  much-derided  Dickens' 
"  Child's  History  of  England,"  Hawthorne's  "  Grand- 
father's Chair,"  and  —  yes,  don't  gasp  —  J.  S.  C. 
Abbott's  once  widely  read  histories  have  done  more  to 
arouse  interest  in  the  study  of  history  and  to  stimulate 
ideals  among  the  young  than  all  the  "  school  histories  " 


History  167 

ever  written.  Call  them  by  your  pet  opprobrious  epi- 
thet if  you  will ;  they  have  been  undisguised  blessings, 
and  I  doubt  not  that  an  honest  confession  would  dis- 
close the  fact  that  most  of  the  readers  of  this  article  who 
are  really  interested  in  history  got  their  earliest  enthu- 
siasm from  one  or  more  of  these  books. 

Importance  of  Selection.  —  These  books,  and  others 
that  have  the  secret  of  story  telling,  discriminate  between 
the  important  and  the  unimportant.  With  unerring 
judgment  they  choose  the  single  significant  and  pictur- 
esque persons,  events,  times,  places,  or  objects,  and  ar- 
range dramatic  plots  about  them;  and  this  is  what  the 
teacher  must  do  who  would  make  his  work  vital  and 
lasting. 

Don't  try  to  teach  everything.  Have  the  courage  of 
your  convictions  and  spend  your  time  in  developing  a 
few  central  ideas  with  considerable  fullness,  so  as  to  give 
the  historical  sense  and  raise  the  subject  out  of  the  plane 
of  mere  memory. 

Choose  the  Inspiring.  —  Not  only  must  discrimination 
be  practiced  regarding  the  political  importance  and  pic- 
turesqueness  of  events,  but  choice,  in  so  far  as  possible, 
should  favor  those  occurrences  that  are  hkely  to  prove 
helpful  toward  the  higher  moral  ends  of  teaching  his- 
tory. Civilization,  properly  presented,  is  more  inspiring 
than  barbarism,  peaceful  achievements  than  war,  free- 
dom than  tyranny. 

Greatness  of  Peace.  —  Especially  shoukLstrong  efforts 
be  niade  to_iUjouseJiiteresMrLlhe^jLrts  of  peace_tather 
than  those  of  war.  This  will  not  always  be  easy. 
History,  as_  writteii,  is  too  much  a  record  of  wars 
and   too  little  of  the  achievements   of   peace.      From 


l68  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

one  point  of  \'iew  this  is  not  unnatural.  War  is 
picturesque,  and  appeals  to  the  admiration  for  the 
heroic  always  present  in  the  minds  of  the  young. 
These  elements  are  often  lacking  in  the  records  of 
peace.  Hence  it  is  more  difficult  to  write  a  history 
that  shall  record  the  progress  of  civilization  in  times  of 
peace  and  at  the  same  time  supply  the  elements  of  in- 
terest, picturesqueness,  and  heroic  conduct  essential  to 
a  history  for  the  young.  Such  a  history  requires  greater 
skill  in  both  the  writer  and  the  teacher.  But  this  fact 
should  not  deprive  the  children  in  the  schools  of  the  ad- 
vantages to  be  gained  from  acquaintance  with  the  higher 
ideals. 

War  may  not  be  Ignored.  —  It  is  not  to  be  inferred  from 
this,  however,  that  war  is  to  be  either  ignored  or  slightly 
treated  in  school  histories.  That  would  be  an  error 
perhaps  even  more  serious  than  the  prevailing  one.  War 
is  Aiafortimatdy  a  great  and  conspicuous  fact  in  history, 
whose  influence  on  the  world's  progress  has  been  beyond 
calculation,  fit  has  produced  the  highest  heroism  as 
well  as  the  grossest  brutality.^  It  shows  men  at  their 
best  and  at  their  worst.  No  history  would  be  even  ap- 
proximately complete  which  failed  to  give  due  prominence 
to  the  great  struggles  for  liberty  or  even  to  the  wars  of 
conquest,  or  which  failed  to  make  much  of  great  military 
heroes.  In  a  general  way  the  great  wars  of  the  world's 
history  show  the  great  aims  for  which  men  were  strug- 
gUng ;  they  show  the  climaxes  of  historic  epochs. 

My  contention  is  for  a  better  balancing  of  values.  The 
great  ^o^rements,  •conquests,  and  heroes  of  peace  should 
receive  their  due  share  of  attention.  Not  merely  the 
military  leaders,  but  the  leaders  of  tho'ight,  of  ideals^  of 


History  169 

the  arts,  of  conxmerce,  of  manufactiire,  of  finance,  should 
be  accorded  the  distinction  that  their  greatness  deserves. 

In  this  country  we  have  had  four  great  wars  and 
several  minor  ones.  They  have  developed  heroes,  and 
two  of  them  especially  have  been  fundamental  to  our 
development  as  a  nation.  But  they  have  occupied  in  all 
but  a  few  years  of  time.  All  the  other  years  of  our  cen- 
tury and  a  quarter  have  been  filled  with  the  struggles 
and  the  conquests  of  peace.  They,  too,  have  developed 
heroes,  and  through  them  our  greatness  has  been  attained. 
So  they  should  receive  by  far  the  larger,  shaxcLiiLspace. 
Jn_our_histoiks.  That  this  is  not  the  case,  even  the 
most  casual  examination  of  current  school  histories  will 
show. 

Need  of  Grouping.  —  What  is  needed  is  to  bring  out 
the  greatness  of  these  conquests  of  peace  by  a  careful, 
logical,  and  picturesque  grouping  of  their  records  about 
suitable  centers  of  interest,  either  persons  or  events. 
The  growth  of  a  great  city  like  New  York  or  Chicago 
may  well  serve  as  such  a  center,  for  the  great  cities  are 
ganglia  of  nerves  that  reach  to  every  part  of  the  land, 
and  in  their  growth  and  its  causes  is  bound  up  the 
growth  of  the  country.  Such  inventions  as  the  cotton 
gin,  the  telegraph,  the  steam  engine,  and  other  means 
of  communication,  may  also  well  serve  as  centers  for 
great  groups  of  attendant  and  dependent  facts. 

It  should  be  always  kept  in  mind  that  peaceful  growth 
is  the  ultimate  hope  of  history,  that  all  men,  even  soldiers, 
look  forward  to  the  time  when  "  nation  shall  not  lift  up 
^wnixi  against  jjafion,  neitlher  shall  they  jearn  war  any— 
moifi." 

The  movement  toward  permanent  peace  among  the 


IJO  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

nations,  though  still  in  its  beginning,  is  yet  the  most 
significant  fact  of  the  present  era.  The  "  federation  of 
the  jyorld  "  should  be  kept  before  all  minds  as  the  highest 
ideal  of  liistory.  To  this  noble  end  the  schools  can  con- 
tribute by  making  the  events  and  the  heroes  of  peace 
appear  to  the  children  in  their  true  light,  as  even  greater 
than  those  of  war. 

Summary.  —  i.  History  in  our  schools  should  be 
mainly  biography. 

2.  It  should  include  both  American  and  "  general  " 
history. 

3.  In  the  primary  schools,  chronology  should  be  dis- 
regarded. In  the  grammar  schools  the  American  history 
taught  should  follow  chronology  moderately.  General 
history  should  give  little  attention  to  it.  In  the  higher 
schools  chronological  relations  assume  increasing  im- 
portance. 

4.  History,  whether  chronological  or  not,  should  be 
taught  about  carefully  chosen,  picturesque  centers  of 
interest  —  persons,  places,  significant  events  or  objects. 

5.  Discrimination  should  be  exercised  in  choosing  what 
to  teach.  The  dead  level  of  the  chronicle  should  be 
avoided. 

6.  The  highest  ideals  should  be  kept  to  the  fore. 
Peace  shnnlH  appear  as  greater  than  war. 


Geography  173 

presentation  of  verbal  statements  beyond  the  apper- 
ceptive range  of  the  children  learning  them,  which  con- 
sequently are  to  them  merely  idle  words. 

Geographic  Concepts  of  a  Child. — Let  us  consider  the 
possible  geographic  concepts  of  a  child  of  ten  or  eleven 
years,  the  age  at  which  most  children  take  a  textbook 
in  geography.  If  he  has  not  been  taught  in  school,  he 
knows  direction ;  something  of  distance ;  the  location  of 
the  buildings  and  other  notable  objects  of  his  neighbor- 
hood ;  such  physical  features  as  he  has  seen,  probably 
hills  and  valleys,  possibly  lakes,  rivers,  brooks,  and  an 
ocean,  —  varying  with  the  locality.  He  knows  some- 
thing of  the  vegetation  growing  immediately  about 
him,  and  will  have  a  few  surmises  as  to  other  kinds 
which  he  finds  at  the  grocery.  In  Hke  manner  he 
knows  a  hmited  number  of  animals.  He  also  knows 
weather.  He  is  famihar  with  industries  in  a  general 
way,  with  one  or  two  quite  intimately.  He  knows  a 
few  types  of  people,  generally  so  modified  as  to  have 
more  resemblances  than  differences.  If  he  lives  in 
one  of  the  very  large  cities,  his  knowledge  of  t}'pes  of 
people  and  of  industries  will  be  much  greater,  and  of 
plants,  animals,  and  physical  phenomena  correspondingly 
less.  If  he  lives  in  the  country,  the  reverse  will  be  true. 
If  he  lives  in  a  \'illage  or  a  small  city,  his  apperceiving 
centers  will  vary  toward  one  extreme  or  the  other.  But 
this  knowledge  is  all  purely  local,  and  when  extended  by 
the  imagination  into  remoter  fields  goes  out  unmodified. 
That  is,  the  children  imagine  the  farmers  and  the  mer- 
chants and  the  manufacturers  of  foreign  countries,  of 
whom  they  learn  in  their  geography  books,  as  Hke  the 
farmers  and  merchants  and  manufacturers  that  they  see 


174  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

about  them,  and  they  cannot  conceive  them  to  be  dif- 
ferent excepting  as  the  result  of  new  experiences  or  of 
good  teaching.  Such  differences  as  they  do  imagine 
belong  in  the  same  class  as  fairy  stories.  The  geography 
of  Sindbad  the  Sailor's  voyages  is  much  more  real  to 
many  children  than  that  of  Europe,  the  difference  be- 
ing solely  in  \ividness  of  impression  and  not  at  all  in 
accuracy. 

Depends  on  Imagination.  —  This  suggests  the  funda- 
mental diflSculty  in  teaching  geography.  (It  depends 
so  completely  on  the  imagination.  The  children  must 
project  themselves  into  a  purely  imaginary  world.  In 
no  other  subject  is  this  so  completely  true,  not  even  in 
history.  ( It  is  necessary  to  establish  a  point  of  contact 
between  the  real  and  the  imaginary  so  that  the  former 
may  be  carried  over  into  the  latter,  making  the  pictures 
of  the  unknown  true.  If  the  steps  are  too  long,  the 
children's  feet  are  lifted  off  the  ground  entirely. 

What  is  here  described  may  be  called  the  natural 
state  of  the  average  child  as  to  geographical  concepts. 
They  are  really  all  individual.  He  generalizes,  of  course, 
but  his  generalizations  are  merely  the  extensions  of  his 
limited  experiences  to  unlimited  and  absurd  lengths. 
The  city  child  imagines  all  milk  coming  in  bottles.  A 
little  boy  said,  "  Mamma,  who  puts  the  bottle  of  milk 
at  our  door  every  night  while  we  are  asleep?  "  "  What 
a  foolish  question,"  said  the  fooKsh  mother;  "  Why  do 
you  ask  that?  "  "  Well,"  answered  the  child,  "  I  s'pose 
God  does,  but  I  wanted  to  be  sure."  A  child  in  the 
mountains  for  the  first  time,  where  the  milk  came 
from  the  local  dairy,  said  to  her  mother,  "  I  don't  like 
cow's  milk;   I  like  Borden's  better."    To  one  imagi- 


Geography  1 75 

native  child  Olympus  is  as  remote  as  heaven  and  as 
unreal.  To  a  second  as  described  in  "  Snowbound," 
it  is  the  local  Huckleberry  Hill  magnified  and  peopled 
with  strange  beings.  To  a  third,  whose  imagination 
has  not  been  stirred,  it  is  merely  a  word.  Mani- 
festly, the  second  state  is  the  only  one  that  leads  to 
geography. 

As  to  astronomical  geography,  the  child's  concepts 
are  even  more  vague.  He  has  almost  nothing  to  go  on. 
He  sees  the  heavenly  bodies,  it  is  true,  but  he  cannot 
imagine  the  earth  one  of.  them.  Such  grotesque  pic- 
tures as  appear  from  time  |o  time  in  the  comic  journals 
are  more  likely  to  convey  to  him  some  clear  ideas  of  the 
earth  as  a  heavenly  body  than  do  all  the  geography  books. 
However,  in  childhood  it  is  of  little  consequence  whether 
the  earth  is  a  globe  or  a  platter,  so  long  as  the  sun  and 
the  moon  and  the  stars  rise  in  the  east  and  set  in  the  west, 
and  season  succeeds  season,  though  of  course  it  is  well 
to  tell  children  that  the  earth  is  round  and  let  them  grow 
into  the  knowledge. 

To  recapitulate,  the  average  child  beginning  to  use 
a  primary  geography,  if  previously  untaught,  has  a 
meager  knowledge  of  the  people  he  has  seen,  their  char- 
acteristics and  employments.  He  also  knows  the  topog- 
raphy of  his  home  town  more  or  less  completely  and  of 
such  places  as  he  may  have  visited.  That  is  his  equip- 
ment for  the  study  of  geography,  except  an  unlimited 
imagination  which  tends  to  make  a  supernatural  product 
of  everything  partially  known,  of  everything  described 
in  words  outside  his  experience.  This  statement  covers 
fairly  well  the  range  of  knowledge,  hence  of  apperceiving 
centers,  of  the  average  child  not  specially  taught. 


176  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

Acquired  Concepts.  —  But  children  in  the  average 
modern  school  when  taking  a  textbook  in  geography 
are  not  in  "  the  natural  state."  They  have  been  given 
a  great  number  of  elementary  geographic  concepts  in 
school,  through  oral  instruction  and  through  sup- 
plementary readers.  It  is  important  to  consider  this 
possible  enlargement  of  the  apperceiving  possibiHties. 
What  does  it  commonly  give?  What  should  it  give? 
How  does  it  afifect  the  first  use  of  the  textbook  ? 

We  must  assume  that  instruction  in  any  subject,  at  any 
time,  is  for  the  training  of  J|p^nds  and  the  enrichment 
of  the  lives  of  the  childre^fc^  tJie  time,  and  not  merely 
to  prepare  them  for  the  use  of  a  textbook  later. 

The  Imagination,  —  The  first  three  years  of  school, 
before  a  textbook  is  used  in  geography,  cover  the  period 
of  the  most  vivid  imagination  of  the  whole  school  life. 
They  are  the  days  when  fairy  tales  and  nature  myths  ap- 
peal most  strongly,  when  the  mind  can  see  in  the  unknown 
likeness  to  the  known,  but  when  diferences  readily  run 
into  grotesque  images.  Little  boys  and  little  girls  and 
their  fathers  and  mothers  and  brothers  and  sisters  and 
pet  animals  are  the  same  the  world  over,  but  unfamiliar 
creatures,  unknown  powers,  readily  become  hideous 
monsters  or  kindly,  absurd  beasts. 

It  is  the  childhood  of  the  race  over  again.  Gods  and 
goddesses,  fairies,  nymphs,  ogres,  dragons,  dwarfs, 
giants,  valkyrs,  angels,  represent  flights  of  the  imagina- 
tion attempting  to  compass  that  which  has  no  prototype 
or  parallel  in  experience. 

So  the  Qarly  geographies  made  the  unknown  parts  of 
the  world  totally  unKke  the  known  parts.  The  imagi- 
nation, unchecked  by  knowledge,  ran  riot  in  two-headed 


Geography  1 77 

giants,  one-footed  men,  serpents  coiled  about  the  earth, 
turtles  and  fish  as  its  supports,  the  heavens  above,  the 
earth  beneath,  and  the  waters  under  the  earth.  Scylla 
and  Charybdis,  Niflheim  and  Valhalla,  Olympus  and 
Hades,  were  mere  attempts  at  geography,  unguided  by 
a  sane  apperception.  The  voyages  of  Ulysses,  the  travels 
of  Sir  John  Mandeville,  the  wanderings  of  Sindbad,  all 
belong  to  the  same  class ;  and  children,  given  geographic 
terms  beyond  their  apperceptive  powers,  but  appealing  to 
their  imaginations,  are  likely  to  make  just  such  journey- 
ings.  Truly,  however,  ^t^^^  better  than  the  deadly 
instruction  whose  words  g^rdrugs  stupefying  even  the 
imagination. 

Important  Concepts.  —  What  concepts  of  the  world 
should  teachers  seek  to  implant  during  the  first  three 
years  of  school  ?  Naturally,  such  as  grow  out  of  the 
most  vivid  knowledge  that  the  children  have.  That  is, 
people,  —  the  family,  the  playmates,  the  neighbors ; 
the  home  environment,  —  food,  bed,  fireside,  play,  work ; 
animals  and  plants,  —  all  the  concerns  of  child  life. 

Which  of  these  can  be  extended  most  readily  into  the 
world  beyond  the  immediate  ken  ?  That  may  vary  with 
the  circumstances.  But  I  should  say,  first,  child  life 
in  its  most  material  aspects,  —  food,  clothing,  games, 
parental  care,  cold,  heat,  school,  also  the  employments 
of  others  within  the  daily  observation.  How  can  this 
be  done?  I  must  repeat,  all  geographic  knowledge 
except  that  obtained  by  direct  observation  comes  through 
the  imagination.  Hence,  facts  taught  to  children,  to 
be  of  value,  must  be  extensive,  that  is,  they  mu^t  prepare 
the  minds  for  the  production  of  correct  images  of  the 
remote  and  unseen  when  described  in  words.     It  is  the 


178  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

failure  to  consider  this  that  has  often  reduced  to  ab- 
surdity so-called  "  home  geography,"  making  it  merely 
a  statement  of  the  ob\dous.  The  bare  fact,  like  a 
smooth  round  pebble,  has  little  educational  worth. 
A  fact  must  be  covered  with  hooks  to  give  it  value. 

Hence,  the  geographic  ideas  to  be  given  during  these 
primary  school  years  are  to  be  estimated  by  their  pos- 
sible relations,  the  strength  and  tenacity  of  their  tentacles, 
rather  than  by  their  manifest  substance.  They  must 
produce  the  sort  of  intelligence  that  prepares  the  way 
for  further  intelligence.  TlasJs  rather  vague,  I  admit. 
It  does  not  tell  what  to  teBlJh.  And,  indeed,  it  is  im- 
possible to  dogmatize  about  that. 

Influence  of  Environment.  —  So  much  depends  upon 
what  the  children  of  any  school  are  likely  to  have  seen 
and  heard  before  coming  to  school.  The  first  lessons 
for  a  class  in  Louisiana  should  be  different  in  many 
respects  from  those  for  a  class  in  Maine,  because  the 
"  known  "  differs.  To  a  child  in  southern  California 
grass  is  an  exotic  raised  on  lawns  with  great  difl&culty. 
To  a. child  in  Minnesota  bananas  and  oranges  occur  only 
on  fruit  stands  and  at  the  grocer's. 

The  first  steps  from  the  known  cannot  be  very  long, 
especially  because  of  the  psychological  fact  above  noted, 
that  children  readily  see  likenesses  but  can  make  little  edu- 
cational use  of  differences.  Almost  the  only  differences  to 
be  noted  with  profit  at  first  are  those  of  degree,  the  adding 
to  the  known,  or  substracting  from  it  some  other  known. 
A  child  never  having  seen  a  cow  cannot  imagine  one 
except  as  like  a  dog,  or  a  mouse,  or  some  other  known 
animal.  (See  "  Contents  of  a  Child's  Mind,"  Stanley 
Hall.)     But  the  same  child  has  no  difficulty  whatever 


Geography  179 

with  a  two-headed  giant  or  an  animal  with  the  power  of 
speech,  or  a  bodiless  head.  Children  in  a  temperate 
zone  can  understand  Agoonack,  because  they  can  imagine 
a  very  long  winter ;  but  to  children  in  southern  Florida, 
or  in  Cuba,  Agoonack 's  home  belongs  with  the  land  at 
the  top  of  Jack's  beanstalk.  To  Anna  Josefsky,  of 
Baxter  Street,  New  York,  a  rolling  prairie  is  a  wheel  on 
a  cart  or  perhaps  a  barrel  rolling  along  the  sidewalk,  or 
possibly  a  roller  skate.  And  there  is  no  way  of  correct- 
ing these  images  at  the  time.  All  attempts  to  give 
knowledge  of  conditions  widely  different  from  those 
familiar  should  be  abandoned  with  young  children. 
Contrasts  may  be  used,  but  only  contrasts  both  of  whose 
elements  are  known.  Differences  in  climate  as  to  heat 
and  cold  may  be  explained  because  children  know  both. 
Contrasts  used  must  be  of  degree  or  quality  of  known 
elements. 

The  first  steps  should  be  to  likenesses  with  slightly 
differing  aspects,  and  these  should  be  made  easy  by 
graphic  and  constructive  illustrations.  For  instance, 
the  dress  and  food  of  children  in  other  lands  can  easily 
be  made  clear  by  illustration.  Games,  if  known,  are 
good  beginnings.  Homes  and  the  modes  of  sleeping  and 
eating  are  not  difficult  to  teach  and  are  very  suggestive. 
When  the  children  can  read  quite  readily,  such  books  as 
"  Seven  Little  Sisters  "  are  very  helpful.  As  Dr.  Taylor 
clearly  shows  in  his  valuable  articles  in  "  Educational 
Foundations,"  stories  with  geographic  settings  are  among 
the  best  means  of  imparting  concepts. 

The  Study  of  Physical  Features.  —  The  question  of 
studying  physical  features  is  sure  to  arise.  The  answer 
must  depend  very  largely  upon  the  locality.     Little  can 


l8o  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

be  done  profitably  in  very  large  cities  during  these  first 
years,  but  in  smaller  places,  and  especially  in  rural  dis- 
tricts, a  beginning  may  be  made.  This,  of  course,  must 
be  a  mere  extension  of  "  nature  study,"  just  a  touch  of 
"  cause  and  effect  "  applied  to  observations.  "  Brooks 
and  Brook-basins  "  is  suggestive  of  a  good  model.  If 
children  are  familiar  with  hills  but  not  with  mountains, 
they  can  be  told  that  a  mountain  is  a  big  hill  with  no 
harm  —  and  little  good  effect. 

I  was  born  among  hills  with  no  mountains  near.  Dur- 
ing all  my  childhood  a  mountain  was  a  mysterious  object, 
conical  and  with  a  sharp-pointed  peak,  Hke  the  pictures 
in  the  book.  I  had  an  idea  that  it  was  big,  but  that 
meant  little.  This  is  to  be  said,  however.  My  curiosity 
to  see  a  mountain  was  in  inverse  ratio  to  my  conception 
of  one,  and  that  was  doubtless  valuable.  But  it  does  not 
take  much  formal  teaching  to  rouse  in  children  curiosity 
about  mountains  or  oceans  or  foreign  lands  that  can  be 
satisfied  only  in  later  years  and  by  travel. 

Make  it  Picturesque.  —  As  to  method,  I  suggest  only 
that  all  possible  means  be  used  to  make  the  instruction 
picturesque  and  vivid.  Sand  table  construction,  stories, 
and  pictures  are  the  chief  reliance  in  the  primary  grades. 
Construction  is  the  most  effective  means  of  straightening 
out  twisted  imaginations.  Word  pictures  developed  into 
sand  pictures  or  construction  pictures  are  excellent. 
Children  at  this  age  especially  need  the  reaction  of  ex- 
pressive activities. 

Use  of  Pictures.  —  A  caution  is  perhaps  needed  as  to 
the  use  of  pictures.  It  is  by  no  means  certain  that 
looking  at  a  picture  will  produce  an  accurate  impression 
of  the  object  portrayed.     I  have  seen  in  geography  books 


Geography  l8l 

and  in  other  books,  too,  on  the  same  page,  pictures  of 
unfamiliar  objects  of  varying  sizes,  in  different  scales, 
so  that  a  bird  was  as  large  as  an  elephant  and  a  zebra 
as  large  as  a  Hindoo  temple.  The  effect  is  inevitable. 
Children,  ignorant  of  them  all,  will  conceive  them  like 
the  pictures.  The  bird,  in  their  minds,  is  as  large  as  the 
elephant,  and  the  zebra  as  the  temple.  Pictures  of 
whole  scenes  with  several  objects  in  proper  relations  are 
better  for  children  than  pictures  of  single  objects,  because 
relative  values  are  then  given.  I  am  aware  that  some 
art  teachers  may  differ  with  me,  but  I  am  not  talking  art. 
I  am  talking  psychology  and  geography. 

A  picture  of  Agoonack  suitably  dressed  is  satisfactory, 
because  the  children,  knowing  her  to  be  a  child,  fix  the 
environment  and  the  size  accordingly.  But  a  picture 
of  a  strange  animal  appeals  to  no  such  apperceiving  mass. 
So,  generally,  large  pictures,  sufficiently  composite  to  give 
relative  values,  are  the  best  for  teaching  geography  to 
young  children.  The  tiny  pictures  tucked  in  the  corners 
of  pages  or  grouped  artistically  in  geographies  or  sup- 
plementary readers  are  frequently  worse  than  useless. 
They  he  to  the  children. 

Another  chapter  of  knowledge  that  may  be  opened  to 
the  children  is  the  industrial,  —  what  people  about  them 
do  to  provide  food  and  clothing  and  homes  for  their 
families.  This  is  valuable  in  itself  and  furnishes  very 
excellent  hooks  to  hang  other  things  on.  As  is  evident 
from  Miss  Young's  studies,  quoted  by  Dr.  Taylor,  in  the 
articles  above  named,  interest  in  industries  is  an  ac- 
quired taste,  but  it  is  none  the  less  desirable.  Indeed, 
one  of  the  aims  of  early  oral  instruction  is  to  develop 
geographic  concepts   that  would  otherwise  not  be  de- 


1 82  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

veloped  at  all.  Soap  is  an  acquired  taste,  as  is  civili- 
zation itself. 

Caution.  —  But  here,  too,  caution  is  necessary.  Avoid 
giving  instruction  in  the  obvious.  In  a  rural  community, 
where  nearly  every  one  makes  a  living  by  farming,  little 
attention  should  be  paid  to  that  industry  at  this  stage, 
except  to  lead  to  others.  If  dairy  farming  is  the  chief 
industry,  follow  the  milk  until  it  goes  beyond  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  children,  adding  a  step,  to  the  condensing 
factory,  the  steriHzing  plant,  the  cheese  or  butter  factory, 
or  to  the  city  in  bottles,  —  some  point  of  new  knowledge. 
But  especially  study  the  industries  of  the  few,  those  which 
most  children  will  not  know  without  instruction,  but 
which  may,  however,  be  studied  by  observation;  as 
the  blacksmith,  the  merchant.  If  a  cow  has  been  sold 
to  the  butcher,  what  must  happen  before  the  skin  is 
brought  back  as  shoes? 

In  the  city,  more  industries  may  be  observed  and  some 
objects  in  common  use  may  be  traced  to  sources.  But  it 
must  all  be  very  simple  and  very  clear.  The  knowledge 
must  be  fresh  and  of  immediate  interest.  Moreover, 
these  very  characteristics  make  it  better  as  an  apper- 
ceiving  center. 

The  work  of  the  first  three  years  in  geography  should 
be  largely  incidental,  should  seek  to  enlarge  the  apper- 
ceiving  powers,  and  should  give  a  few  clear  concepts 
that  will  enable  the  imaginations  of  children  to  grasp 
the  new  and  larger  facts  concerning  the  world,  which  may 
properly  be  presented  in  the  higher  grades. 

All  this  knowledge  should  be  vital  and  of  interest  and 
worth  at  the  time,  for  only  such  vital  knowledge  can  be 
the  basis  of  apperception. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

Geography  for  Primary  Grades 

AssuMmc  that  the  children  have  received  the  training 
outlined  in  the  preceding  chapter,  that  they  possess  a  few 
elementary  general  geographic  concepts,  that  they  have 
acquired  the  ability  to  extend  through  the  imagination 
their  acquaintance  of  their  immediate  environment 
enough  to  comprehend  like  conditions  at  a  distance,  what 
should  the  primary  geography  do  for  them,  and  how? 

The  World  not  the  Earth.  —  Primary  geography,  to 
meet  the  apperceptive  possibilities  of  even  the  brightest 
children,  should  deal,  with  the  world  more  than  with 
the  earth.  The  earth  is  a  "  heavenly  body,"  a  member 
of  the  solar  system.  The  world  is  this  globe  we  live  on, 
with  all  its  oceans,  mountains,  and  plains,  all  its  plants, 
all  its  creatures,  all  its  people  with  their  races,  relations, 
commerce,  likenesses,  and  differences,  and  their  govern- 
ments and  political  divisions. 

Should  give  Few  Facts.  —  It  should  not  seek  to  teach 
a  large  number  of  facts,  especially  the  facts  of  political 
geography,  such  as  names  of  cities,  boundaries,  items  of 
production  and  commerce  in  Hsts,  such  as  "  Indiana 
produces  corn,  wheat,  and  hogs." 

It  should  have  no  one  or  two  or  three-line  sentences 
giving  isolated  facts,  as :  "  Lynn  has  many  shoe  facto- 
ries," "  Birmingham  has  extensive  iron  foundries." 

The  great  defect  of  most  elementary  geographies  is 

183 


l84  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

excess  of  zeal  in  giving  all  the  facts  the  author  knows. 
These  facts,  not  apperceived,  not  related  to  any  interest 
in  the  child's  mind,  merely  clog  his  memory,  or  pass  swiftly 
into  the  useful  waste  basket  of  forgetfulness.  There  are 
very  few  primary  geography  books  that  do  not  err  in 
this  regard,  though  some  are  greater  sinners  than  others, 
of  course. 

Should  extend  Knowledge.  —  The  primary  geography 
should  extend  the  childish  knowledge,  acquired  before 
taking  the  book,  through  the  imagination.  It  should 
give  more  and  more  definite  geographic  concepts.  It 
should  make  the  remote  parts  of  the  world  seem  real  and 
should  explain  to  the  children  a  limited  number  of  phe- 
nomena and  conditions  as  rapidly  as  they  can  grasp  them. 

Detailed  Study  of  Types.  —  This  should  be  accom- 
plished mainly  through  the  somewhat  detailed  study  of 
a  few  t3^ical  instances,  which  may  lead  to  a  compre- 
hension of  a  few  general  truths  of  wide  application. 
What  children  need  is  possession,  not  of  many  facts,  but 
of  pregnant  facts.  All  school  instruction  should  aim 
first  to  develop,  and  then  to  fix,  general  truths  applicable 
to  many  instances.  Against  this  fundamental  law  of 
education,  no  subject  is  a  greater  transgressor  than 
geography.  The  subject  is  so  comprehensive,  there  are 
so  many  facts  of  so  many  kinds  in  its  field,  that  writers 
of  textbooks  on  the  subject  have,  with  few  exceptions, 
abandoned  the  effort  and  fallen  back  weakly  upon  the 
old  plan  of  crowding  all  the  facts  possible  within  the 
pages  of  the  books,  trusting  to  Providence  to  save  the 
children. 

Develop  Generalizations  from  Instances.  —  Not  only 
should  a  primary  geography  give  a  few  broad  but  defi- 


Geography  for  Primary  Grades  185 

te  generalizations  of  wide  application,  but  it  should 
velop  these  from  instances,  not  merely  state  them, 
le  larger  the  truth,  the  more  important  does  it  become 
arrive  at  it  in  the  right  way,  the  way  of  real  as  distin- 
ished  from  "  verbal  "  knowledge.  The  truth  stated 
xy  mean  something  or  it  may  mean  nothing  to  the 
arer.  The  truth  that  grows  upon  the  vision,  slowly, 
)m  cause  to  effect,  from  what  is  already  known  to 
new  truth,  becomes  a  part  of  the  mind  itself.  This  is 
al  knowledge. 

It  is  worth  more  to  a  primary  class  to  know  that  there 
e  many  waterfalls  along  the  Genesee  River,  that  water- 
lls  may  be  used  to  drive  machinery,  and  that  hence  one 
ight  expect  to  find  manufactories  in  the  Genesee  Valley, 
id  then  to  know  that  Rochester  and  other  manufactur- 
g  places  are  found  here,  than  to  have  a  Ust  of  all  the 
des  of  central  New  York  with  a  statement  that  each 
oduces  this  or  that  article. 

Elimination  and  Selection.  —  Evidently,  then,  before 
le   teaching   of  geography   becomes   even   reasonably 
.tisfactory,  two  things  are  necessary,  elimination  and 
-'lection  of  material  and  the  introduction  of  the  labora- 
tory method. 
For    the    former    courage    is    needed.     Elementary 
iography   must   cease   to   attempt   to   give   universal 
..  lowledge,  and  must  confine  itself  to  a  few  types,  em- 
bodying generalizations.     The  greater  part  of  the  small 
ems  relating  to  political  geography,  which  fill  most  of 
'.'  ir  primary  textbooks,  must  be  cut  out  entirely.     Those 
that  are  to  remain  must  be  carefully  selected  as  typical, 
so  that  children  may  have  the  wherewithal  to  assimilate 
new  facts  as  they  present  themselves. 


1 86  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

The  full,  detailed  study  of  a  single  city  or  mountain 
range  or  river  valley  is  worth  more  to  a  primary  school 
child  than  the  naming  of  all  with  an  item  or  two  about 
each. 

By  detailed  study,  I  mean  study  as  nearly  at  first 
hand  as  possible ;  at  any  rate,  the  study  of  essential 
characteristics,  one  by  one,  in  such  a  way  that  they  are 
comprehended.  This  means  the  use  of  the  laboratory 
method  in  so  far  as  it  can  be  used. 

The  Laboratory  Method.  —  By  the  laboratory  method 
I  mean  the  use  of  direct  observation  of  typical  forms  and 
drawing  conclusions  from  these  observations. 

If  in  the  neighborhood  of  a  river  or  a  mountain,  or  in 
a  large  city,  the  immediate  environment  should  be  studied 
to  master  the  type.     The  book  is  merely  incidental. 

When  studying  forms  not  to  be  found  in  the  immediate 
environment,  some  typical  instance  easily  comprehended, 
through  description  and  story  should  be  selected  and 
studied  in  much  picturesque  detail  until  a  clear,  pregnant 
image  is  secured.  Suppose  the  subject  is  a  river,  and 
there  is  none  near.  Select  the  river  in  which  the  children 
are  most  likely  to  be  interested,  for  instance,  if  in  the 
Middle  West,  the  Mississippi  or  the  Ohio,  if  in  New 
England,  the  Connecticut,  or  if  on  the  western  coast, 
the  Columbia. 

Spend  time  enough  upon  it  to  make  it  loom  large  in  the 
imaginations  of  children.  See  that  a  vivid  picture  of 
the  river,  from  source  to  mouth,  is  in  the  mind  of  every 
child,  —  its  banks,  the  country  it  flows  through,  the  towns 
along  it,  its  traffic,  if  any,  its  influence  upon  the  life  in 
its  vicinity  —  all  the  facts  that  an  investigating  traveler 
of  the  age  of  the  children  would  acquire.     A  single  such 


Geography  for  Primary  Grades  187 

'  is  worth  more  than  the  naming  all  the  rivers  on 
ontinent. 

low  Natural  Interests.  —  One  more  thing  should  be 
A  primary  geography  should  follow  the  natural 
;st  of  children,  which  proceeds  from  themselves 
ird;  This  is  chiefly  in  marked  resemblances  and  in 
:d  contrasts,  that  they  can  understand.  It  is  in 
?  more  than  in  things.  It  passes  from  people  to  the 
;  that  affect  them.  It  weighs  all  values  by  effects 
people. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
Geography  for  Grammar  Grades 

Establish  Apperceiving  Centers.  —  The  principal  aim 
of  the  teaching  of  geography  in  the  grammar  school  is 
the  same  as  in  the  primary  school,  namely,  the  establish- 
ment of  apj)erceiving  centers.  In  both,  geography  is 
mainly  an  informational  subject  of  the  most  general 
character.  The  amount  of  actual  knowledge  that  can 
be  acquired  by  a  child  in  school  at  the  most  is,  however, 
so  pitifully  small  that  it  is  of  the  slightest  value,  unless 
it  is  strongly  cohesive  and  carefully  organized.  It  must 
be  of  such  a  sort  that  new  knowledge  resulting  from  read- 
ing and  travel  will  readily  find  its  place  around  the  ap- 
perceiving centers  estabhshed  by  the  study  of  geography 
in  school  and  will  get  its  explanation  from  them.  I  have 
asked  children  in  school,  who  were  living  near  the  foot- 
hills of  the  Appalachian  range,  while  studying  geogra- 
phy, if  they  had  ever  seen  a  moimtain,  and  have 
received  the  answer,  "  No." 

No  one  will  question  that  the  older  geographies  gave 
little  heed  to  this  need.  They  supplied  for  the  most 
part  condensed  and  desiccated  statements  of  fact,  both 
uninteresting  to  children  and  conveying  little,  if  any, 
meaning  to  them.  Of  what  use,  for  example,  to  a  gram- 
mar school  child  is  the  statement,  quoted  from  a  ge- 
ography, quite  modern  too,  that  "  On  the  slopes  of  the 
Himalayas  are  the  independent  states  Nepal  and  Bhutan 

i88 


Geography  for  Grammar  Grades  189 

and  the  native  principaHty  of  Kashmir."  This  is  unex- 
plained and  unampHfied  except  by  a  single  sentence  about 
Kashmir.  It  is  taken  from  a  page  filled  with  just  such 
isolated  statements.  If  memorized  is  not  such  informa- 
tion given  in  such  a  way  worse  than  useless?  Is  it  not 
sure  to  result  in  merely  verbal  knowledge,  attic  refuse, 
which  is  not  knowledge  at  all?  Is  it  not  likely  to  in- 
terrupt the  natural  process  of  learning,  to  impair  the 
assimilative  power  of  the  child,  and  to  make  the  subject 
itself  disastef ul  ?  The  example  quoted  is  by  no  means  an 
isolated  or  an  extreme  instance.  It  is  a  type  of  the  state- 
ments that  pervade  all  the  older  geographies  and  several 
of  the  newer  ones. 

Wherein  are  its  defects?  It  ignores  apperception. 
It  takes  for  granted  that  comprehensive  general  knowl- 
edge of  the  world  which  it  should  be  the  function  of  a 
geography  to  give.  Geographies  hke  the  one  quoted 
lack  detail  and  yet  have  too  much  detail.  That  which 
they  have  is  of  the  wrong  sort  and  in  the  wrong  places. 
It  consists  in  a  vast  number  of  isolated  and,  to  a  child, 
meaningless  facts.  The  detail  needed,  as  in  the  pri- 
mary grades,  is  the  ampHfication  of  single  typical  subjects, 
with  abundant  illustration  and  many  associated  and  in- 
teresting facts,  which  may  serve  as  a  basis  for  inducing 
principles.  Better  ten  pages  devoted  to  the  complete 
exposition  of  a  single  river  valley  than  the  same  space 
filled  with  a  hundred  isolated  statements  about  as  many 
river  valleys. 

The  former  may  serve  to  establish  certain  general 
truths  regarding  valleys  and  their  relations  to  the  in- 
dustrial and  social  hfe  in  them,  which  will  create  justi- 
fiable expectations  as  to  other  valleys  that  may  be  studied, 


190  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

that  is,  it  will  establish  principles  which  may  be  applied 
in  all  future  study  of  similar  conditions.  The  latter 
produces  nothing  but  verbal  congestion.  The  trouble  is 
that  in  our  zeal  to  teach  everything  we  teach  nothing 
well. 

For  a  child  in  New  York  studying  the  geography  of 
Minnesota  it  is  important  to  know  of  St.  Paul  and 
Minneapolis  at  the  head  of  navigation  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  and  to  know  enough  about  them  to  estab- 
lish interest  and  some  appreciation  of  their  relations  to 
his  breakfast.  The  fact  that  *'  Mankato  has  flour  mills, 
stone  and  cement  industries,  and  iron  foundries"  (quoted 
from  a  recently  pubUshed  geography),  had  better  be 
omitted.  It  obscures  the  main  proposition  and  will 
speedily  be  forgotten,  as  it  ought  to  be.  For  a  child  in 
Minnesota  this  should  be  given  and  amplified.  The 
book  above  quoted  gives  seven  lines  to  North  Dakota, 
as  a  whole,  and  fifteen  to  six  of  its  tiny  cities.  The  whole 
twenty-two  lines  are  worthless  to  a  New  England  child. 
Two  or  three  paragraphs  giving  the  place  of  North 
Dakota  in  the  industrial  world,  or  describing  its  prairies, 
might  be  of  value. 

Principles  must  grow  from  Instances. — Here,  again, 
as  in  the  elementary  grades,  we  come  upon  an  error 
which  may  be  said  to  dominate  some  of  the  newer  text- 
books. They  give  much  space  to  the  comprehensive 
statement  of  principles,  for  example,  those  of  physi- 
ography, in  general  terms,  instead  of  developing  them  out 
of  observed  or  localized  conditions.  And,  to  make  the 
matter  worse,  these  unsupported  generalizations  are 
usually  given  in  the  earlier  parts  of  the  book,  to  be  con- 
sumed by  children  just  out  of  the  primary  school. 


Geography  for  Grammar  Grades  191 

It  is  impossible  to  say  which  violates  the  more  fla- 
grantly universally  accepted  principles  of  education,  the 
generalization  stated,  not  induced  from  abundant  con- 
crete detail,  or  the  mass  of  unorganized  facts  presented 
to  be  "  learned  by  heart,"  when  no  principles  have  been 
established  to  explain  and  clarify  them. 

Grammar  School  Children  still  Children.  —  They  both 
ignore  the  truths  that  grammar  school  children  are  still 
children,  with  children's  limitations,  and  that  knowl- 
edge is  the  result  of  growth.  The  normal  child  begin- 
ning to  use  the  "big"  geography  is  twelve  years  old. 
He  has  a  twelve-year-old  child's  limited  vocabulary 
and  very  limited  knowledge  of  the  world.  Yet  he  has 
thrust  into  his  childish  hands  a  textbook  stating  in 
broad  general  terms  the  great  truths  or  supposed  truths 
of  the  earth's  formation  and  present  conditions  as  to 
climate,  surface,  and  relations  to  the  solar  system,  not 
developed  from  observation  or  present  knowledge,  but 
generahzed  and  stated  in  words  that  require  a  dictionary 
with  each  sentence,  and  this  information  his  childish 
mind  is  supposed  to  take,  assimilate,  and  use  in  future 
study.  Truly  the  cry  of  the  children  against  the  igno- 
rant, well-meant  assaults  of  their  older  well-wishers  never 
ceases. 

The  advanced  geography,  like  its  primary  predecessor, 
should  appeal  to  the  interests  of  children  as  children, 
should  present  to  them  a  great  number  of  interesting 
and  illuminating  detail  about  a  comparatively  few  topics, 
and  should  develop  from  these  a  few  important  funda- 
mental principles  which  will  serve  as  an  apperceiving 
basis  for  all  future  geographic  knowledge.  It  should  be 
first  extensive,  very,  and  should  gradually  become  in- 


192  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

tensive  as  the  children  gain  power  to  see  and  apply 
principles. 

The  first  duty,  then,  of  the  writer  of  a  geography  for 
grammar  schools,  as  for  primary  schools,  is  selection 
and  elimination.  The  second  is  the  presentation  of 
the  selected  matter  in  simple  language  and  with 
abundant  interesting  detail,  so  as  to  arouse  and  hold 
interest  and,  by  degrees,  in  the  natural  way  of  growth, 
to  establish  the  few  fundamental  principles. 

What  interests  Children.  —  What  geographic  matters 
interest  children  in  the  grammar  schools  ?  The  same  as 
in  the  primary,  first,  people,  always  people,  how  they 
look,  how  they  dress,  how  they  act,  how  they  work,  and 
how  they  play,  —  how  they  live.  Second,  nature,  that 
which  is  all  about  them,  rocks,  trees,  flowers,  animals, 
rivers,  oceans,  hills,  mountains,  weather,  and  the  relations 
of  all  this  to  themselves  and  to  other  people.  Third,  how 
man  has  modified  and  utilized  nature,  as  shown  in  cities, 
industries,  and  institutions.  This  is  geography,  of  course. 
The  important  thing  is  to  begin  right  and  to  proceed 
from  existing  interest  to  ever  new  and  widening  interest. 

City  and  Country.  —  Children,  like  ourselves,  divide 
the  world  into  cities  and  "  the  country."  This  is  a 
fundamental  division,  —  places  where  men  live  close 
together  with  comparatively  little  of  nature  as  an  element 
in  their  fives,  and  places  where  they  five  apart,  with 
nature  as  the  principal  environment.  Some  features, 
such  as  the  weather  and  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  day 
and  night,  and  the  seasons,  and  perhaps  hills,  a  river 
and  an  ocean,  also  government  and  other  social  institu- 
tions, are  common  to  both.  But  the  differences  are 
greater  than  the  likenesses. 


Geography  for  Grammar  Grades  193 

For  the  city  child  it  is  easier  to  develop  from  his 
environment  a  knowledge  of  human  institutions,  such 
as  government  and  commerce,  than  for  the  country  child. 
But  for  the  country  child  natural  phenomena  and  earth 
forms  —  the  facts  of  physiography  —  are  more  easily 
developed.  But  both  may  be  utilized  for  all  children 
as  the  starting  points  for  the  establishment  of  the  funda- 
mental facts  of  the  two  great  interlocking  divisions  of 
geography,  natural  conditions  and  human  institutions. 
The  study  of  the  relations  of  these  two  follows  naturally. 

What  can  the  Teacher  Do  ?  —  The  teacher  may 
naturally  say  here:  "That  is  all  very  true,  but  what 
are  we  to  do  about  it?  We  have  to  use  the  textbooks 
suppUed." 

That  is  true,  of  course.  Hence  it  is  all  the  more  im- 
portant for  the  teacher  to  have  a  very  clear  conception 
of  the  aim  of  teaching  geography  in  order  that,  even  if 
compelled  to  use  poor  books,  he  may  make  the  best  use 
of  the  material  furnished  by  the  books,  may  organize  it 
properly,  and  may  supplement  it  by  all  the  means  in  his 
power. 

Duty  of  the  Superintendent.  —  The  first  duty  rests 
upon  the  superintendent  who  makes  the  local  course  of 
study.  He  should  lay  out  the  work  in  proper  groupings, 
selecting  the  significant  central  features,  and  should 
show  how  to  use  the  material  furnished  by  the  textbook 
and  how  to  supplement  it  from  other  sources,  by  means 
of  pictures,  lantern  slides,  and  concurrent  reading.  He 
should  supply  carefully  prepared  lists  of  available 
material,  which  teachers  may  secure. 

If  possible,  every  school  should  have  a  good  lantern, 
with  an  abundance  of  well-chosen  slides  suited  to  the 


194  What  Children   Study  and  Why- 

work  of  different  grades.  Some  one  room  can  easily 
be  supplied  with  dark  curtains  to  be  used  on  occasion  by 
different  classes. 

Besides  this,  each  school  should  have  a  collection  of 
photographs  illustrating  various  phases  of  geography. 
These  can  be  used  by  the  different  classes.  And,  of 
course,  each  school  should  have  sets  of  the  best  geographi- 
cal readers  for  the  work  of  each  grade.  This  supple- 
mentary reading  matter  should  be  carefully  classified  to 
fit  the  course  of  study,  so  as  to  make  the  study  of  geog- 
raphy vital,  and  to  keep  the  teachers  from  the  deadly 
routine  of  the  textbook. 

In  small  towns  a  single  lantern  and  set  of  slides,  a  single 
collection  of  photographs,  and  a  central  library  of  sup- 
plementary reading  may  be  made  to  serve  all  the 
schools  by  a  little  care  in  arranging  the  time  schedules. 

What  one  Teacher  Did.  —  If  the  authorities  do  not 
organize  the  work  in  this  way,  then  it  is  for  each 
teacher  to  do  the  best  possible  in  this  direction.  I 
have  known  an  individual  teacher  to  carry  out  a 
scheme  of  geography  teaching  so  successfully  as  to 
furnish  a  model  to  an  entire  school  system.  Among  the 
devices  that  she  employed  was  one  of  having  geography 
days  set  apart  devoted  to  some  particular  geographic 
feature,  usually  a  race  or  people,  for  example,  a  Japan 
day,  when  everything  characteristic  of  the  Japanese  that 
the  children  could  obtain  appeared  in  the  room.  Japanese 
pictures  and  draperies  and  costumes  and  products  were 
all  represented.  Children  appeared  in  Japanese  tableaux, 
showing  some  striking  characteristic  of  the  national  Hfe. 
Japanese  stories  were  told.  Naturally  all  available 
sources  of  knowledge  and  of  material  for  representation 


Geography  for  Grammar  Grades  195 

were  drawn  upon.  Great  enthusiasm  prevailed ;  the 
facts  found  out  and  told  or  written  by  the  children,  you 
may  be  sure,  were  the  facts  that  interest  children.  It 
was  a  good  study  of  what  to  teach  in  geography. 

On  other  days,  as  called  for  by  the  course  of  study, 
other  themes  were  treated  with  a  like  appropriateness. 
But,  whatever  the  topic,  whether  Japan  or  South  Africa^ 
or  Germany  or  England,  or  coal  mining,  or  dairying,  or 
making  cotton  cloth,  a  very  real  and  very  vivid  impres- 
sion was  left  with  the  children.  They  really  knew  what 
they  had  studied.  They  could  never  again  be  wholly 
indifferent  to  any  one  of  these  subjects.  Moreover,  the 
knowledge  was  organized.  It  was  all  properly  grouped 
about  a  suitable  nucleus.  Through  it  the  children  were 
suppHed  with  apperceptive  centers  for  the  placing  of  new 
facts  and  with  geographic  principles  to  explain  new 
phenomena. 

I  This  was  accomplished  by  a  single  teacher  with  many 
successive  classes,  without  much  help  from  her  superior 
officers.  It  should  be  encouraging  to  teachers  who  know 
how  geography  shoulci  be  taught  but  are  compelled  still 
to  use  inferior  textbooks  or  to  follow  antiquated  or 
insufficient  courses  of  study.  Unless  teachers  grasp 
these  principles,  not  even  ideal  books  and  courses  of  study 
will  secure  the, best  results. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

Natueje  Study 

"  Nature  Study  "  has  meanings  almost  as  numerous 
as  the  schools  pursuing  it.  It  came  in  late  as  one  of  the 
forms  of  protest  against  the  game  of  logomachy  into 
which  school  studies  had  degenerated  in  the  third  quarter 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  From  its  name  it  is  evident 
that  it  was  intended  to  indicate  a  "  return  to  nature," 
a  reestabhshment  of  the  connection  between  the  educa- 
tion of  children  and  the  physical  environment  in  which 
their  hves  must  be  spent. 

Aim  of  Nature  Study.  —  At  its  best  it  is  the  study  of 
the  phenomena  of  the  physical  world  with  the  more 
or  less  definite  aim  of  discovering  some  of  the  laws 
that  cause  them,  and  their  significance  to  human 
beings.  It  differs  from  the  study  of  natural  science 
much  as  the  "  language  lessons  "  of  the  elementary 
school  differ  from  grammar.  Its  chief  purposes  are 
to  open  the  eyes  to  the  wonders  and  beauties  of 
the  environing  world,  to  create  sympathetic  interest 
in  all  animate  creatures,  and  to  restore  the  sense  of 
reality  in  a  system  of  education  quite  given  over  to 
verbal  statements  about  things.  It  was  a  product  or 
corollary  of  the  interest  in  scientific  study  which  fol- 
lowed the  promulgation  of  Darwin's  theories.  The  aim 
is  most  worthy,  and  there  was,  and  still  is,  abundant 
need  for  such  an  equiUbrant. 

196 


Nature  Study  I97 

Still  Chaotic.  —  However,  nature  study  in  elementary 
schools  still  is  in  a  chaotic,  unorganized,  possibly  a  forma- 
tive, state.  It  began  with  the  "  object  lessons  "  which 
some  of  us  remember,  a  loose,  unsystematic  exercise  con- 
sisting mainly  of  reciting  stated  facts  about  the  common 
phenomena  of  physics,  accompanied  by  a  little  individual 
observation.  This  gave  way  to  a  more  orderly  study  of 
elementary  science.  In  some  schools,  quite  elaborate 
systems  were  developed,  with  full  courses  in  the  elements 
of  botany  and  zoology,  and  even  with  special  super- 
visors to  direct  the  instruction.  These  attempts  rather 
overshot  the  mark  and  contributed  much  to  the  over- 
crowding of  the  curriculum.  At  present  the  study  seems 
to  be  setthng  into  the  place  of  adjutant,  supplying 
topics  and  material  for  correlation  with  language  and 
with  geography,  varying  with  the  interest  and  knowl- 
edge of  the  teacher.  Its  best  present-day  manifesta- 
tions are  school  gardens,  terraria  and  aquaria  in  the 
schoolroom,  and  "  field  lessons."  Manifestly  nature 
study  must  vary,  more  widely  than  any  other  study,  with 
the  environment. 

Early  Blunders.  —  The  greatest  mistake  of  the  earher 
teaching  of  this  subject  in  schools  was  the  attempt  to 
observe  natural  objects  "out  of  their  natural  relations.  A 
bug,  a  frog,  a  crayfish,  were  brought  in  to  the  school,  dis- 
sected, discussed,  and  scientifically  classified.  This  had 
Httle  value,  very  little,  in  cultivating  close  observation.  It 
did  nothing  to  acquaint  children  with  environing  nature, 
to  open  their  eyes  to  the  beauties  of  sky  and  meadow, 
brook  and  plowed  field,  to  make  them  love  the  voice  of 
the  bird,  wonder  at  the  marvelous  adaptations  of  plant 
and  animal  Hfe.    The  objects  chosen  were  diflBcult  to 


198  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

obtain  and,  when  observed  away  from  their  habitats, 
not  very  interesting  to  the  children.  The  anatomy  of 
the  animal  or  the  plant  was  treated  as  of  more  conse- 
quence than  its  life. 

The  Near  rather  than  the  Remote.  —  Nature  study 
for  children  should  be  the  study  of  the  near  rather 
than  of  the  remote.  The  geological  history  of  a  grain 
of  sand  from  the  road  is  vastly  more  worth  wliile 
than  that  of  a  fragment  of  gneiss  from  the  museum. 
Nature  study  should  be  out  of  doors  as  far  as  possible, 
the  study  of  what  is  immediate  and  common. 

Professor  L.  H.  Bailey  says  in  "  The  Outlook  to 
Nature " :  "  The  first  consideration  of  special  study 
should  be  the  inhabitants  of  your  yard  and  garden ;  they 
are  yours,  or  if  they  are  not,  you  are  not  living  a  right 
Ufe." 

Even  in  the  most  crowded  parts  of  a  big  city,  the  paving 
stones  and  the  gutters  and  the  ever  present  sparrows 
present  interesting  problems  for  nature  study.  Besides, 
there  are  the  parks,  with  their  birds  and  trees  and  flowers. 

In  the  small  town  and  especially  in  the  country,  nature 
is  everywhere  asking  to  be  understood.  If  children  could 
only  be  put  into  sympathetic  touch  with  her  "  in  her 
various  moods,"  it  would  go  far  toward  restoring  a  more 
beautiful  and  a  saner  life. 

In  the  language  of  Walt  Whitman  (quoted  by  Profes- 
sor Bailey), 

"  There  was  a  child  went  forth  every  day, 
And  the  first  object  he  look'd  upon,  that  object  he  became, 
And  that  object  became  part  of  him  for  the  day  or  a  certain 

part  of  the  day, 
Or  for  many  years  or  stretching  cycles  of  years. 


Nature  Study  199 

"  The  early  lilacs  became  part  of  this  child, 
And  grass  and  white  and  red  morning-glories,  and  white  and  red 

clover,  and  the  song  of  the  phoebe-bird, 
And  the  third-month  lambs  and  the  sow's  pink-faint  litter,  and 

the  mare's  foal  and  the  cow's  calf. 
And  the  noisy  brood  of  the  barnyard  or  by  the  mire  of  the 

pond-side. 
And  the  fish  suspending  themselves  so  curiously  below  here,  and 

the  beautiful  curious  liquid, 
And  the  water-plants  with  their  graceful  flat  heads,  all  became 

part  of  him." 

Lord  Avebury,  in  a  fine  passage  on  the  same  subject, 
remarks :  "If  Spring  came  but  once  in  a  lifetime ;  if  the 
sun  rose  and  set  once  in  a  year  instead  of  once  in  a  day ; 
if  a  rainbow  appeared  once  in  a  century ;  if  flowers  were 
as  rare  as  rubies  and  dewdrops  as  diamonds,  how  wonder- 
ful would  they  seem,  how  they  would  astonish  and 
delight  us.  We  undervalue  them  because  they  are 
lavished  on  us.  The  very  word  '  common '  most  im- 
properly implies  some  disparagement.  If  we  trained 
our  minds  properly  in  the  appreciation  of  beauty,  we 
should,  on  the  contrary,  wonder  at  and  admire  them  all 
the  more." 

In  a  still  finer  passage,  Emerson  says :  "  If  the  stars 
should  appear  one  night  in  a  thousand  years,  how  would 
men  believe  and  adore,  and  preserve  for  many  genera- 
tions the  remembrance  of  the  city  of  God  which  had  been 
shown !  But  every  night  come  out  these  envoys  of 
beauty,  and  light  the  universe  with  their  admonishing 
smile." 

But  the  sort  of  harmony  with  nature  suggested  by 
Whitman  and  of  appreciation  indicated  by  Avebury  and 
Emerson  are  not  to  be  brought  about  by  observing  and 


200  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

drawing  a  dead  bug,  even  though  observed  "  right  end 
first." 

Beauty  of  Life.  —  There  is  one  aim  of  nature  study  in 
particular  that  should  be  emphasized,  the  beauty  and 
worth  of  the  hving  thing,  and  its  right  to  live  unless  it 
works  harm  to  man  or  its  body  is  needed  for  his 
legitimate  use. 

That  relic  of  the  barbaric  days  of  the  race,  the  silly 
desire  to  kill  by  trap  or  gun  harmless  animals  for  "  sport," 
should  disappear  before  interest  in  the  lives  of  animals. 
The  glory  of  the  hunter  who  bravely  hides  in  ambush 
and  shoots  a  harmless  unsuspecting  bird  or  deer  for  mere 
pleasure  should  be  turned  to  shame.  If  the  children 
desire  to  hunt,  the  camera  is  a  much  better  implement 
than  the  shotgun  and  secures  vastly  more  interesting 
results. 

This  change  is  bound  to  come  as  we  become  more  en- 
lightened. Since  the  introduction  of  nature  study  into 
schools,  within  my  recollection,  cruelty  to  animals  by 
both  children  and  adults  has  been  greatly  lessened. 
Our  entire  nation  has  become  more  humane.  The  next 
step  is  the  elimination  of  the  "  sportsman  "  who  sneaks 
behind  a  tree  to  shoot  an  inoffensive  beast  or  bird,  giving 
him  no  chance  even  for  a  fair  fight  for  his  life. 

Nature  study  should  leave  the  children  richer  in  ap- 
preciation of  the  wonders  and  beauties  of  the  world  about 
them,  with  eyes  keener,  spirits  fresher,  sympathies 
broader  for  all  creatures,  and  themselves  in  the  way  of 
becoming  larger  and  simpler  men  and  women. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

Nature  Study 
methods  of  instruction 

The  method  of  nature  study  in  the  elementary  school 
has  been  too  often  a  feeble  copying  of  the  method  of  the 
scientific  laboratory  of  the  university  or  of  the  investigat- 
ing speciaHst,  whereas  it  should  be  almost  its  antipode. 

Natural  Setting.  —  Wherever  possible,  as  was  clearly 
indicated  in  the  preceding  chapter,  it  should  consist 
mainly  of  the  study  of  objects  in  their  natural  setting 
and  of  phenomena  as  and  where  they  occur,  the  teacher 
always  having  in  mind  that  the  aim  is  chiefly,  not  to 
give  scientific  knowledge,  but  rather  to  arouse  interest, 
even  enthusiasm,  regarding  that  which  is  all  about  us. 

Study  out  of  Doors.  —  Whenever  possible  also,  and  it 
is  always  possible  in  the  country  and  in  small  towns,  it 
should  be  at  first  out-of-door  study  and  of  common 
everyday  objects  and  phenomena.  A  garden  cultivated 
on  the  school  grounds  is  the  best  laboratory  for  the 
study  of  plants  and  of  some  animals.  The  growth  of 
flowers  or  common  herbs  from  bud  or  bulb  to  maturity 
is  a  never-failing  source  of  pleasure  and  interest,  and 
makes  possible  the  consideration  of  soils  and  of  the 
various  friends  and  enemies  of  the  plants.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  elaborate  upon  school  gardens.  There  are 
several  books  that  treat  this  subject  fully  and  satis- 
factorily. 


202  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

Field  Excursions.  —  The  field  excursion  is  another 
excellent  means  for  developing  interest  and  acuteness 
of  observation,  and  provides  opportunity  to  gather 
material  for  indoor  study. 

The  groups  going  on  such  an  excursion  should  be  small 
for  each  teacher.  While  the  children  should  be  en- 
couraged to  observe  all  the  phenomena,  excursions  should 
have  some  definite  aim,  as  the  action  of  a  brook,  the 
growth  of  some  particular  crop,  the  study  of  certain  nest- 
ing birds,  the  observation  of  the  habits  of  some  animal 
in  its  native  habitat.  If  possible  a  good  field  glass  and 
a  camera  should  be  taken,  the  former  to  enable  the  ob- 
server to  watch  the  actions  of  animals  without  disturb- 
ing them,  and  the  latter  to  obtain  accurate  and  per- 
manent reports  of  especially  interesting  and  illuminating 
appearances. 

It  is  well  for  the  children  to  take  notes  of  what  they 
observe,  to  be  discussed  later  in  the  schoolroom,  and 
possibly  written  about  for  language  exercises. 

Out  of  doors  the  large  and  plainly  vdsible  aspects  of 
nature  should  be  studied,  such  as  cannot  be  observed 
in  the  schoolroom  :  in  the  physical  realm,  such  things  as 
the  effects  of  winds  and  of  rain,  of  clouds,  and  of  running 
water ;  in  the  realm  of  hving  things,  the  grouping  of  trees 
and  plants  in  pastures  and  in  woods,  the  habits  of 
birds  in  pairs  and  in  flocks,  and  of  groups  of  animals  at 
pasture. 

Nature  Study  in  Cities.  —  The  city  presents  its  own 
problems.  But  in  most  of  even  the  larger  cities 
occasional  excursions  to  the  fields  or  to  the  parks  are 
possible,  and  in  some  cases  room  for  gardens  is 
obtainable    in    the    school    yard    or    upon    the    roof. 


Nature  Study  203 

Window  boxes,  also,  in  which  carefully  chosen  seeds  ger- 
minate and  grow  to  maturity,  are  always  possible  and 
offer  opportunity  for  much  interesting  observation  and 
discussion. 

In  the  Schoolroom.  —  Nature  study  in  the  school- 
room naturally  requires  a  method  quite  different  from 
that  out  of  doors.  Here,  in  the  main,  individual  objects 
must  be  studied,  removed  from  their  natural  setting. 
These  objects  should  be  such  as  naturally  interest  chil- 
dren, and  are  readily  obtained.  The  domestic  cat,  dogs, 
rabbits,  chickens,  are  better  than  the  amoeba  or  even 
the  crayfish. 

Study  Function.  —  The  study  of  these  objects  should 
be  the  study  of  function  or  of  anatomy  as  related  to 
function  and  never  of  mere  anatomy.  Dissection 
should  be  always  taboo.  An  excellent  study  is  that 
of  the  comparison  of  the  different  functions  of  similar 
organs  of  different  animals,  as  the  fore  Hmbs  of 
fishes,  birds,  quadrupeds,  and  man.  The  questions 
that  always  call  for  an  answer  are :  What  is  this 
organ  for?  What  does  the  animal  do  with  it?  How 
does  it  contribute  to  his  needs  as  a  Hving  being? 
Suppose  noses  are  the  subject.  What  kind  of  nose  has 
the  rabbit,  the  cat,  the  dog,  the  pig,  the  child  ?  For  what 
does  each  one  use  his  nose?  How  does  its  particular 
form  administer  to  its  usefulness? 

The  degree  of  intelligence  displayed  by  different  ani- 
mals is  an  interesting  topic.  What  does  each  one  do 
through  sheer  instinct?  What  actions  are  dictated  by 
intelligence  and  some  degree  of  reason? 

Relation  of  Man  to  Nature.  —  Then  always  the 
relations  to  man  of  the  objects  or  animals  observed 


204  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

should  receive  careful  consideration.  What  does  each 
contribute  to  our  well-being,  and  how? 

This  study  should  lead  to  a  consideration  of  the  treat- 
ment of  living  nature,  both  plants  and,  especially,  animals. 
What  is  due  each  one,  from  us  ?  How  far  are  the  lives  of 
lower  creatures  sacred  ?  Under  what  circumstances 
may  they  rightly  be  taken?  When  and  to  what  degree 
should  they  be  unmolested  ?  To  what  degree  of  freedom 
are  these  creatures  entitled?  What  right  have  we  to 
deprive  them  of  freedom,  to  cage  them,  to  utilize  them? 
With  older  children,  even  the  use  and  abuse  of  "  vivi- 
section "  may  be  discussed  with  profit. 

Correlation.  —  As  has  been  intimated,  nature  study 
is  readily  correlated  with  other  subjects,  notably  with 
language  study.  But,  for  this  purpose,  the  study 
should  be  of  nature  as  it  is,  the  sky,  the  weather,  the 
brooks,  the  hills,  the  birds  and  beasts,  all  in  natural 
setting.  Nature  studied  in  this  way  is  the  best  intro- 
duction to  geography.  Nature  study  should  also  be 
closely  allied  with  physiology,  as  indicated  in  chapter 
XXI.  Of  all  the  possible  correlations,  that  of  the  great- 
est importance  is  with  literature.  Mere  informational 
books  about  nature  are  dangerous  in  the  school.  They 
are  apt  to  be  substituted  for  first-hand  observation.  At 
the  most  they  should  be  used  only  to  supplement  and 
explain  what  has  been  observed.  But  the  study  of  the 
poets  of  nature  and  of  such  prose  writers  as  Thoreau 
and  Burroughs  is  most  useful  in  connection  with  direct 
observation.  These  are  they  who  see  the  hidden  spir- 
itual significance  of  the  phenomena  of  nature.  They 
point  out  the  rich  analogies  between  the  wonders  and 
beauties  of  the  physical  world  and  the  spirit  of  man. 


Nature  Study  205 

It  is  well  to  observe  the  weather,  the  marvelous  changes 
of  cloud  and  sky  wrought  by  wind  and  rain  and  sunshine, 
and  while  doing  this  to  read  and  memorize  Shelley's 
"  Cloud,"  or  Moore's  lines  beginning : 

"  0  God,  thou  art  the  life  and  light 
Of  all  this  wondroxis  world  we  see." 

or  Shakespeare's  sonnet 

"  Full  many  a  glorious  morning  have  I  seen 
Flatter  the  mountain  tops  with  sovran  eye, 
Kissing  with  golden  face  the  meadows  green, 
Gilding  pale  streams  with  heavenly  alchemy." 

The  highest  function  of  literature  is  to  illumine  the 
common  things  of  life  and  to  point  out  the  ever  present 
analogy  between  the  things  we  see  with  our  eyes  and  our 
own  spiritual  aspirations  and  experiences,  and  this  can 
be  made  plain  to  children  in  correlation  with  nature  study 
more  readily  perhaps  than  in  any  other  way. 

Resume.  —  The  aims  of  all  method  in  nature  study 
should  be  :  (i)  to  acquaint  the  children  with  nature  as  it 
is,  as  God  made  it ;  (2)  to  show  them  its  relations  to  men, 
how  they  have  modified  it,  for  what  purpose  and  with 
what  rights,  to  the  end  that  children  may  become  lovers 
of  nature  and  wise  in  its  use ;  and  (3)  to  show  the  spirit- 
ual significance  of  the  natural  world,  its  laws,  its  phe- 
nomena, its  modes  of  life. 

"  To  him  who  in  the  love  of  Nature  holds 

Communion  with  her  visible  forms,  she  speaks 

A  various  language ;  for  his  gayer  hours 

She  has  a  voice  of  gladness  and  a  smile 

And  eloquence  of  beauty,  and  she  glides 

Into  his  darker  musings,  with  a  mild 

And  healing  sympathy,  that  steals  away 

Their  sharpness,  ere  he  is  aware."  —  Bryant. 


CHAPTER  XX 

Physiology 

The  subject  of  physiology  in  a  course  of  study  for 
public  schools  should  properly  be  considered  among  the 
natural  sciences.  But  its  position  in  our  schools  is  so 
peculiar,  because  of  an  anomalous  and  to  a  degree  arti- 
ficial correlation  with  ethics  and  poHtics,  that  it  seems 
necessary  to  treat  it  as  constituting  a  class  by  itself. 

Analysis  of  the  Subject.  —  Human  physiology  is  the 
science  of  the  human  body  considered  as  a  living  organism. 
It  deals  with  the  functions  of  the  various  organs  and  rests 
upon  anatomy,  which  treats  of  the  structure  of  the  body 
as  a  whole  and  of  its  different  parts.  Anatomy  may  be 
learned  directly  and  completely  from  the  study  of  dead 
bodies.  As  physiology  deals  with  life,  it  can  be  studied 
properly  only  in  living  organisms. 

Hygiene  is  a  corollary  of  physiology.  Its  function  is 
to  show  how  the  various  organs  of  the  body  may  be  made 
to  perform  their  functions  in  a  normal  manner.  Its 
province  is  the  laws  of  health.  The  order  of  importance 
of  these  subjects,  to  children  especially,  is  (i)  Hygiene, 
(2)  Physiology,  (3)  Anatomy.  The  educational  order 
is  the  same. 

Even  quite  young  children  can  be  taught  profitably 
such  simple  laws  of  health  as  the  importance  of  cleanli- 
ness and  the  danger  of  eating  certain  things,  such  as  un- 
ripe fruit.    Later,  with  the  growth  of  curiosity,  not  only 

206 


Physiology  207 

may  the  list  of  laws  be  extended,  but  reasons  for  some 
of  them  may  be  given,  thus  leading  naturally  to  some  of 
the  facts  of  physiology.  Later  yet,  even  some  anatomi- 
cal facts  can  be  made  to  serve  a  definite  hygienic  purpose, 
and  thus  anatomy  may  come  in  at  the  right  time  and  by 
the  right  door. 

Errors  in  Treatment.  —  This  inductive  treatment  of 
the  subject,  in  obedience  to  the  laws  of  mental  growth, 
seems  so  simple  that  one  might  expect  to  find  it  in 
our  schools.  But,  strangely  enough,  the  psychological 
laws  obeyed  in  treating  other  sciences  are  ignored 
when  the  subject  is  the  human  body.  In  the  primary 
grades  the  instruction,  as  indicated  by  the  text- 
books, consists  in  giving  information  about  the  body, 
chiefly  anatomical,  almost  always  uninteresting,  and 
often  misleading,  interspersed  with  perfunctory  advice 
in  regard  to  hygiene  and  alcohol.  The  scientific  method 
of  the  nature  study  lesson  upon  bird,  beast,  bug,  or  plant 
appears  nowhere. 

In  the  higher  grades,  especially  the  high  school,  again 
anatomy  is  to  the  fore  with  scalpel,  microscope,  and  acid 
bottle.  In  very  few  schools  is  the  wonderful  and  beauti- 
ful human  body,  a  living  organism  manifesting  in  every 
part  adaptability,  symmetry,  and  usefulness,  so  studied 
as  to  inspire  respect  and  to  suggest  powerfully  to  the 
children  normal  health  and  beauty,  and  to  secure  obedi- 
ence to  the  laws  of  health  because  of  the  innate  dignity 
and  worth  of  the  body,  the  home  of  the  soul. 

Legislative  Meddling.  —  How  far  this  perversion  of 
the  subject,  this  retention  of  a  method  of  instruction  long 
since  discarded  in  nearly  every  other  subject,  is  due  to 
legislative  meddling  it  is  impossible  to  say.     Unques- 


2o8  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

tionably,  however,  to  a  considerable  degree  the  well- 
intended  efforts  of  good  people  to  secure  a  certain  amount 
and  kind  of  catechetical  instruction  in  a  subject  of  great 
ethical  importance,  by  force  of  law  inserted  into  the 
physiology  books,  has  led  both  authors  and  teachers 
away  from  a  sane  and  well-balanced  view  of  the  subject. 
The  necessary  artificiality  and  cumbersomeness  of  a  part 
of  the  book  has  naturally  affected  the  remaining  parts. 

Two  Points  of  View.  —  There  are  two  points  of  view 
from  which  the  subject  may  be  considered,  and  in  plan- 
ning a  course  of  instruction  both  must  be  used.  One  is 
scientific,  the  other  practical.  The  former  considers 
the  human  body  as  in  itself  a  proper  object  of  study 
from  the  biological  point  of  view  Hke  any  other  body. 
The  other,  regarding  chiefly  hygiene,  has  to  do  with 
the  care  of  the  body  so  that  it  may  continue  in  a  healthy 
state  and  may  perform  its  functions  normally. 

The  acceptance  of  two  points  of  view,  while  broaden- 
ing, is  at  the  same  time  confusing.  The  question  really  is 
where  to  place  the  stress.  If  hygiene  is  kept  in  prominent 
relief  before  the  eyes  of  the  children,  with  science  as  a 
mere  incident,  getting  its  value  from  its  relations  to 
hygiene,  we  have  one  sort  of  results.  If  science  is  the 
manifest  chief  aim,  with  hygiene  as  a  somewhat  incidental 
though  important  corollary,  we  secure  a  quite  different 
result.  Which  shall  it  be?  Surely  no  thoughtful 
teacher  can  be  in  doubt. 

Dangers  from  Wrong  Emphasis.  —  I  am  not  sure  but 
complete  neglect  of  the  subject  would  be  better  than  a 
constant  authoritative  iteration  of  so-called  laws  of 
health.  In  the  first  place  the  "  laws  "  whose  efl&cacy 
is  unquestioned  are  very  few  and  can  be  taught  simply, 


Physiology  209 

without  spending  much  time  and  without  the  cumbersome- 
ness  and  the  wastefulness  incident  to  the  usual  teaching 
of  "  physiology  "  in  the  common  school.  To  do  more 
than  this,  with  the  stress  on  hygiene,  is  to  center  the 
thoughts  of  cliildren  altogether  too  much  upon  their 
own  bodies,  by  the  influence  of  suggestion,  and  to  cause 
the  very  evils  it  is  desired  to  prevent.  Excessive  bodily 
self-consciousness  is  dangerous  at  any  age.  The  un- 
happy hypochondriacs  and  the  innumerable  victims  of 
all  sorts  of  quackeries  are  largely  men  and  women  who 
have  acquired  the  habit  of  giving  constant  attention  to 
the  "  laws  of  health."  The  thoroughly  healthy  person 
thinks  Httle  of  either  health  or  of  possible  disease.  With 
children,  excessive  bodily  self-consciousness  produces 
even  worse  results.  It  arouses  a  morbid  curiosity  as  to 
vital  and  sexual  facts  before  they  come  normally  into 
consciousness,  and  tends  very  definitely  and  surely  to 
indecent  and  immoral  practices. 

Untimely  Knowledge.  —  I  have  considerable  sympathy 
with  the  good  woman  who  wrote  to  a  teacher:  "  Please 
excuse  Jennie  from  physiology.  I  don't  think  it  is  nice 
for  her  to  learn  about  her  insides."  Even  important 
truths  learned  at  the  wrong  time  and  without  proper 
setting  may  be  very  mischievous.  To  this  class  belongs 
much  of  the  information  given  to  young  children  under 
the  guise  of  "  hygiene,"  relating  to  adult  Hfe  and  adult 
conditions,  and  not  comprehensible  by  young  children 
without  distortion.  This  is  the  real  ground  for  objection 
to  the  extreme  requirements  of  the  laws  in  some  States 
regarding  the  teaching  of  "  temperance  hygiene."  They 
overdo  their  office,  so  that  children  are  supplied  with 
facts,  not  only  unnecessary  to  temperance  or  even  total 


2IO  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

abstinence,  but  likely  to  create  morbid  curiosity  and  pro- 
duce the  e\dl  they  aim  to  remove. 

I  recall  one  textbook,  at  one  time  at  least  highly 
approved  and  \s'idely  used,  which  distinctly,  in  so  many 
words,  ad\'ised  teachers  to  bring  to  school  samples  of 
various  alcoholic  Hquors  and  have  children  taste  them, 
so  that  they  might  be  able  to  distinguish  them.  One 
mother,  the  wife  of  a  prominent  minister  and  an  ardent 
temperance  advocate,  said  to  me  one  day :  "  My  Httle 
girl  (aged  eight)  came  home  from  school  to-day  and  told 
me  about  more  kinds  of  liquors  than  I  had  ever  heard 
of."  Another  httle  girl  said  to  her  mother,  "  I  hate 
physiology,  but  I  just  love  the  rum  part." 

Is  it  not  e\ddent  that  children  so  taught  have  a  quite 
unnecessary  and  untimely  knowledge  of  matters  out  of 
their  natural  ken,  and  that  such  knowledge  is  likely  to 
do  more  harm  than  good?  These  excesses  and  dis- 
tortions follow  inevitably  a  treatment  of  physiology 
directed  mainly  and  manifestly  from  the  practical  or 
hygienic  point  of  \'iew.  Such  instruction  tends  to 
produce  morbid  bodily  consciousness  and  unnatural 
curiosity.  It  leads  directly  to  various  forms  of  per- 
sonal immorality,  and,  besides,  makes  infants  arbitrary 
and  cocksure  judges  of  adult  actions.  If  has  nothing 
to  defend  it,  either  educationally  or  ethically,  except  such 
good  intentions  as  form  the  proverbial  pavement  of  a 
certain  unhappy  region. 

What  is  the  natural  effect  of  teaching  physiology  from 
the  scientific  point  of  view  with  hygiene  and  ethics  as 
ine\'itable  and  most  important  corollaries? 

Basis  of  Character.  —  Let  it  be  remembered  that  moral 
character  results  from  experience  more  than  from  mere 


Physiology  211 

preachment,  that  verbal  knowledge  as  to  right  and  wrong, 
with  most  people  and  on  vital  questions,  is  one  of  the  least 
influential  forces  in  securing  good  conduct.  The  springs 
of  conduct  He  deeper  than  mere  words.  One  of  the  great 
evils  of  all  times  is  the  substitution  of  external  acquies- 
cence in  verbal  righteousness  for  deep-seated  and  high- 
principled  morality.  The  too  familiar  bank  defaulter 
who  "  stood  high  in  religious  circles  "  is  doubtless  the 
result  of  this  unconscious  substitution  and  his  subse- 
quent lack  of  defense  against  real  temptation.  A  sane 
view  of  life  in  its  entirety  is  surely  better  than  the  exag- 
gerated prominence  of  some  single  "  important  fact." 
Hence  hygiene  and  "  bodily  ethics  "  should  result  natu- 
rally from  a  sane  and  suitable  knowledge  of  the  body. 

Without  doubt  the  human  body,  the  most  highly 
organized  form  of  animal  life,  is  quite  as  worthy  of  study 
as  the  clam  or  the  beetle.  Moreover,  it  is  always  present 
for  first-hand  observation,  the  basis  of  all  scientific 
study. 

What  to  Study.  —  The  study,  for  the  younger  children 
especially,  should  always  be  of  visible  form  as  related 
to  function.  Hence  the  external  parts  should  be  the 
first  parts  studied,  and  for  a  long  time  they  should  be 
almost  the  only  parts  considered.  The  slightest  in- 
formation about  internal  structure,  as  a  basis  for  some 
necessary  hygienic  lesson,  will  suffice.  For  example, 
the  importance  of  saliva  in  preparing  food  for  use  in 
body-building  may  wisely  be  explained  as  an  argument 
against  chewing  gum  and  against  the  vile  habit  of  pro- 
miscuous spitting,  so  likely  to  be  affected  by  boys  at  a 
certain  age.  Even  in  the  grammar  grades  any  attempt 
at  an  elaborate  study  of  internal  organs  is  to  be  depre- 


212  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

cated.  The  study  by  observation  of  the  corresponding 
organs  of  lower  animals  dissected  in  class  is  often  of- 
fensive to  sensitive  children  and  can  result  in  little  good. 
In  the  primary  grades  the  study  of  internal  parts  should 
be  merely  the  most  general  and  of  vital  organs,  —  suffi- 
cient to  give  support  to  what  must  be  taught  about  the 
action  of  the  circulatory  system  and  its  relation  to  ex- 
ercise, breathing,  clothing,  and  fresh  air.  The  digestive 
system  and  the  nervous  system  should  receive  in  school 
but  the  briefest  attention,  enough  merely  to  point  to 
certain  very  simple  hygienic  principles.  The  study  of 
most  of  the  visible  external  organs,  however,  is  both 
easy  and  profitable.  The  hand,  the  foot,  the  skin,  the 
eyes,  ears,  and  teeth  may  all  be  studied  so  as  to  lead  to 
proper  respect  and  proper  care. 

Scientific  Method.  —  The  method,  it  is  needless  to  say, 
should  be  at  first  altogether  scientific ;  that  is,  gather- 
ing facts  by  observation  and  inducing  conclusions.  A 
further  characteristic  of  method  should  be  the  com- 
parison of  the  human  organ  studied  with  the  correspond- 
ing organs  of  other  animals.  This  not  only  makes  the 
knowledge  more  defijiite  and  accurate,  it  gives  the  chil- 
dren a  clear  notion  of  the  superiority  of  the  human  body 
and  tends  to  enhance  their  respect  for  it,  a  necessary 
basis  for  hygiene  and  bodily  morality.^ 

Study  of  the  Hand.  —  Suppose  you  begin  with  the 
organ  most  easily  studied,  the  hand :  let  the  children 
observe  their  own  hands,  note  all  their  parts  and  what 
they  can  do.     Function  explains  and  justifies  structure. 

^  Mrs.  E.  B.  Hallock,  in  her  book,  "  Some  Living  Things,"  has 
developed  this  method  for  children  perhaps  more  fully  than  any  other 
writer. 


Physiology  213 

A  number  of  lessons  may  well  be  spent  in  tliis  study 
of  the  parts,  possible  positions,  and  functions  of  hands. 
How  many  joints  are  there,  and  what  are  they  for? 
What  uses  do  the  nails  serve?  What  can  the  fingers  do, 
especially  the  thumb?  Countless  similar  questions  will 
stimulate  curiosity  and  observation  and  lead  directly 
to  rules  for  the  proper  care  of  these  wonderfully  useful 
and  beautiful  organs. 

The  interest  in  the  study  and  the  value  of  it  may  be 
greatly  increased  by  a  comparison  with  the  parts  of  other 
animals  corresponding  to  the  hand,  as  the  fins  of  fish, 
the  wings  of  birds,  the  hoofs  of  horses  and  cattle,  the 
paws  of  cats  and  dogs.  The  children  can  see  readily  the 
comparative  inflexibility  of  the  "  hands  "  of  these  ani- 
mals and  their  consequent  limitation,  each  to  a  single 
function  or  a  comparatively  few  functions.  The  fin  of 
the  fish  is  for  swimming  only,  the  wing  of  the  bird  for 
flying.  The  adaptation  in  each  case  is  perfect,  but  al- 
most absolutely  confined  to  the  single  function.  The 
hoofs  of  animals  also  have  each  a  single  adaptation, 
and  a  further  partial  usefulness  in  fighting.  The  paws 
of  cat  and  dog  have  several  uses.  The  hand  of  the  mon- 
key has  many,  but  not  till  we  get  to  the  hand  of  man, 
with  its  prehensile  and  supposable  thumb,  do  we  find 
universal  adaptability.  The  advance  from  adaptation 
to  adaptability,  which  includes  pretty  nearly  the  entire 
history  of  evolution,  is  easily  shown  in  the  study  of  the 
hand.  Especial  attention  should  be  given  to  the  thumb. 
The  proverbial  prominence  of  the  "  sore  thumb  "  speaks 
volumes  for  man's  place  in  the  cosmos.  A  history  of 
thumbs  and  chins  would  be  a  history  of  later  animal 
evolution. 


214  What  Children  Study  and  Why- 

Study  of  the  Skin.  —  Another  excellent  study  is  the 
skin,  —  its  uses,  its  delicacy  and  beauty,  its  relation  to 
health,  and  its  proper  care.  Here,  too,  comparative 
study  is  most  helpful.  The  unprotected  sensitive  skin 
of  man  shows  a  great  advance  over  the  coarse,  hair- 
covered  skins  of  lower  animals.  It  enables  man  by  add- 
ing or  removing  artificial  covering  to  live  in  all  climates, 
whereas  the  lower  animal  is  limited  to  a  comparatively 
narrow  sphere.  The  polar  bear,  being  unable  to  remove 
his  overcoat,  must  live  where  overcoats  are  "  comfort- 
able "  the  year  around.  Instruction  in  the  care  of  the 
skin  and  in  the  avoidance  of  "  cosmetics  "  follows  easily. 
These  are  suggested  as  typical  methods  of  studying 
the  parts  of  the  body,  so  as  to  give  genuine  and  useful 
knowledge  as  distinguished  from  verbal  and  useless 
memorization.  They  may  be  extended  to  cover  all  that 
it  is  wise  to  teach  children  about  their  bodies,  and  may 
lead  easily  to  instruction  in  such  laws  of  health  and  bodily 
morals  as  it  is  important  to  teach. 

"  Scientific  Temperance."  —  Where  the  law  interferes 
and  requires  not  merely  more  instruction  but  that  of 
a  wholly  different  kind,  the  teacher  should  try,  in  so  far 
as  possible,  to  make  the  instruction  sensible  and  to  avoid 
the  evils  so  easily  flowing  from  perfunctory  ethical  in- 
struction, especially  when  applied  to  disputed  facts. 

As  far  as  the  laws  allow,  keep  within  the  bounds  of 
certainty.  This  offers  a  field  wide  enough  for  such  in- 
struction as  will  tend  to  persuade  children  to  let  narcot- 
ics and  stimulants  alone.  Keep  in  the  background  de- 
tailed instruction  as  to  the  constituents  and  qualities 
of  "  rum."  Keep  in  the  foreground  the  beauty  and 
utility  of  a  normally  healthy  body  and  the  dangers  of 


Physiology  215 

stimulation,  especially  in  youth.  Avoid  general  state- 
ments likely  to  lead  children  to  criticize  their  elders  and 
bring  disrespect  into  families,  and  dwell  instead  upon 
the  evils  to  which  children  in  childhood  are  subject. 

Correlations  of  Hygiene.  —  Much  of  the  necessary 
instruction  in  hygiene  can  be  given  in  connection  with 
other  exercises,  such  as  domestic  science  and  gymnastic 
drill.  With  the  former  much  can  be  taught  in  regard  to 
food  values,  wholesome  and  unwholesome  food,  the 
proper  manner  of  eating,  and  kindred  topics.  But  the 
great  field  for  correlation  is  the  athletic  or  the  gymnastic. 
In  sports,  physical  vigor  becomes  an  appreciable  de- 
sideratum, not  a  mere  abstraction,  or  a  detestable  school 
topic.  If  boys  and  girls  are  training  for  the  basket-ball 
team  or  a  foot  race,  or  for  any  other  contest  requiring 
strength  and  endurance,  it  is  not  difficult  to  persuade  them 
to  bathe,  to  eat  carefully,  to  sleep  with  their  windows 
open,  and  to  let  chewing  gum  and  cigarettes  alone.  The 
instructor  in  gymnastics,  if  such  there  be,  is  the  best 
teacher  of  hygiene.  He  deals  with  the  present,  not  the 
remote,  with  the  child's  own  ambitions  and  desires,  not 
those  of  teacher  and  parent  merely.  The  important  laws 
of  health  are  simple  and  easily  followed,  and  if  they  are 
taught  in  connection  with  some  appealing  end  in  view, 
obedience  to  them  can  be  made  a  habit,  without  danger 
of  that  morbidity  which  so  frequently  follows  prolonged 
contemplation  of  our  "  inward  states."  Older  children 
may  be  taught  a  few  simple  facts  about  the  hygiene 
of  the  home,  such  as  the  importance  of  abundant  fresh 
air  and  of  sunshine,  the  necessity  of  cleanliness  and  the 
reasons  for  segregating  those  ill  with  infectious  diseases. 

In  all  these  respects  the  school  itself  should  be  a  model. 


2l6  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

a  condition,  alas,  too  seldom  fulfilled.  Both  school 
ofiScials  and  teachers  are  quite  too  frequently  ignorant 
of  the  simplest  laws  of  ventilation.  Some  have  no 
"  noses  for  foul  air,"  a  serious  defect  in  a  teacher. 
"Second  hand  "  air,  with  a  certain  peculiar  nauseating 
odor,  is  one  of  the  recognizable  characteristics  of  the 
average  schoolroom  in  many  of  our  cities.  In  some  cases 
patent  systems  of  ventilation  that  work  beautifully  in 
theory  are  responsible  for  the  lack  of  fresh  air  in  school- 
rooms. In  others  where  there  are  really  effective  sys- 
tems with  forced  draughts,  teachers,  ignorant  of  the 
possible  difference  between  fresh  air  and  cold  air,  apply 
the  wrong  remedy. 

Whatever  the  cause  of  foul  air  in  a  schoolroom,  it  should 
be  remedied  effectively  and  permanently.  What  greater 
absurdity  is  there  than  for  children  in  the  physiology 
class  to  be  studying  about  the  respiratory  system  and  the 
purification  of  the  blood,  while  themselves  contaminating 
their  own  blood  by  breathing  a  choice  mixture  of  carbon 
dioxide  thrown  off  once  or  twice  or  thrice  from  the  lungs 
of  their  neighbors,  exudations  from  the  unwashed  bodies 
of  the  children  about  them,  and  disease  germs  "  too  nu- 
merous to  mention  "  ? 

The  air  in  the  schoolroom  should  illustrate  the  prin- 
ciples laid  down  in  the  textbook  not  only  for  the  sake 
of  the  children  while  in  school,  but  also  for  the  sake  of 
its  influences  on  the  home.  Children  in  the  school  should 
be  made  so  sensitive  to  foul  air  that  they  will  rebel  against 
it  in  the  home. 

Resume.  —  In  general,  let  hygiene  be  hygiene,  and  not 
therapeutics.  Treat  the  body  as  worthy  of  study  and 
worthy  of  respect  and  of  the  best  care.    Let  the  instruc- 


Physiology  217 

:ion  be  positive  and  suggestive,  rather  than  negative 
md  prohibitory. 

This  "  house  beautiful,"  the  home  of  the  human  soul, 
s  the  highest  of  visible  creations.  When  God,  having 
nade  man's  body  of  the  dust  of  the  earth,  breathed  into 
t  the  breath  of  Hfe,  this  body  received  a  new  dignity, 
inknown  before.  It  should  hence  be  kept  pure  and  sweet 
md  beautiful.  Surely  this  is  basis  enough  for  instruc- 
;ion  in  bodily  morality. 

SEX   HYGIENE 

In  connection  with  the  study  of  physiology  it  is  per- 
laps  well  to  devote  a  little  space  to  a  group  of  subjects 
vhich  have  been  discussed  of  late  vigorously,  though 
lomewhat  vaguely,  under  the  general  heading,  "  Sex 
hygiene."  A  number  of  moralists,  and  especially  ad- 
vocates of  the  new  so-called  science  of  eugenics,  urge  that 
:hildren  in  schools  should  be  made  acquainted  with  the 
Drinciples  of  life  reproduction,  especially  as  applied  to 
luman  beings,  and  that  such  instruction  should  be  ex- 
;ended  to  include  the  physiology  and  hygiene  of  the  sex 
)rgans,  to  the  end  that  children  and  youth  may  be  taught 
low  to  keep  these  organs  in  good  health,  how  to  protect 
themselves  against  sex  vices,  and  how  to  become  in  the 
md  the  right  sort  of  parents.  It  will  be  seen  that  while 
;hese  subjects  are  closely  related,  they  are  after  all 
iifferent  subjects.  The  writers  who  are  urging  their 
ntroduction  into  common  school  curricula  seem,  however, 
:o  suppose  that  they  are  all  one  subject,  and  that  in- 
struction in  the  fundamental  facts  of  Hfe  reproduction 
mil  lead  so  naturally  to  the  more  intensive  knowledge 
)f  sex  as  to  constitute  a  sure  safeguard  against  prevalent 


2l8  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

vicious  habits,  and  against  the  social  dangers  that  are 
related  to  sex. 

Importance  of  the  Subject.  —  Beyond  doubt,  it  would 
be  well  if  discussion  of  sex  relationship  could  be 
more  general  and  easy  than  it  is,  provided  that  such 
discussion  could  be  always  hedged  about  with  the 
proper  restrictions  and  safeguards.  If  children  could 
be  made  aware  of  the  mode  of  propagating  individual 
life  in  animals,  as  well  as  in  plants,  and  be  led  to 
apply  this  knowledge  to  human  beings,  it  would  no 
doubt  be  valuable,  and  would  save  the  growing  genera- 
tion from  many  of  the  evils  that  are  due  to  ignorance,  to 
partial  knowledge  acquired  in  the  wrong  way,  and  to 
pruriency  generally.  Further,  when  children  become 
older,  particularly  at  the  dawn  of  adolescence,  if  they 
could  be  made  aware  of  certain  well-known  social  dangers 
dependent  upon  sex,  such  knowledge  probably  would 
prove  a  valuable  protection,  again  provided,  as  always, 
that  it  be  imparted  in  the  right  way  and  by  the  right 
people,  so  as  to  create  scientific  interest  and  moral  fear, 
but  not  to  rouse  prurient  curiosity,  or  excite  imagination 
and  desire  in  young  people  at  an  age  when  such  feelings 
are  very  near  the  surface. 

The  Crux  of  the  Question.  —  Here  is  the  crux  of 
the  question  as  to  the  relation  of  the  common  school 
to  such  knowledge.  One  may  admit  without  reserva- 
tion the  value  of  knowledge  of  the  sort  indicated  to 
the  developing  youth,  and  yet  see  in  the  introduction 
of  these  subjects  into  a  common  school  course  practical 
dangers  and  difficulties  quite  sufficient  to  outweigh 
the  possible  advantages.  Indeed,  I  personally  am 
quite  strongly  of  the  opinion  that  for   the  present  at 


Physiology  219 

least  instruction  in  this  whole  group  of  subjects  must, 
in  the  public  school,  be  limited  to  the  very  simplest 
and  broadest  facts  of  life-reproduction  as  shown  in  plants 
and  in  oviparous  animals.  The  application  to  mammals 
of  the  principles  so  found  out  certainly  cannot  be  carried 
very  far  at  the  present  time  in  schools.  These  are  my 
reasons :  — 

Mixed  Classes.  —  Most  pubhc  schools  have  both  boys 
and  girls  in  the  same  classes.  While  this  would  not  in- 
terfere with  instruction  based  upon  the  study  of  plants 
and  oviparous  animals,  as  indicated  above,  such  in- 
struction being  naturally  and  properly  given  in  the  pri- 
mary grades,  it  would  stop  any  further  application  to 
higher  mammals,  because  such  instruction  to  be  of  value 
would  have  to  be  given  to  the  older  pupils ;  that  is,  to 
the  adolescents.  Unhappily,  in  every  school  of  advanced 
grade,  a  very  considerable  number  of  pupils  already  have 
considerable  knowledge  of  sex  relationship,  for  the  most 
part  obtained  surreptitiously,  and  of  the  wrong  sort. 
And  such  knowledge  in  case  of  definite  instruction  in  sex 
hygiene  would  lead  to  unfortunate  self-consciousness,  and 
in  many  cases  mutual  consciousness,  which  would  tend 
to  inflame  the  imagination,  and  in  addition  would  render 
the  instruction  very  embarrassing  to  both  teacher  and 
pupils.  The  condition  is  very  different  from  the  im- 
aginary ideal  condition,  in  which  children  from  infancy 
are  carefully  guarded  and  given  the  right  instruction  at 
just  the  right  moment,  step  by  step,  so  that  there  is  no 
evil  imagination  at  any  time.  It  is  impossible  to  plan  a 
scheme  without  taking  account  of  the  actual  mental 
states  of  children,  which  involves  much  of  the  sort  of 
knowledge  of  which  I  have  already  spoken.     In  those  high 


220  What  Children  Study  and  Why- 

schools  in  which  the  sexes  are  separate,  and  in  boarding 
schools  of  the  same  sort,  it  is  possible  that  more  definite 
instruction  can  profitably  be  given.  Whether  this  is 
true  in  any  particular  case  will  depend  upon  local  con- 
ditions, which  do  not  admit  of  generahzation.  In  small 
schools  for  pupils  of  but  one  sex,  where  the  relations  be- 
tween teachers  and  children  are  sound  and  wholesome, 
unquestionably  some  instruction  of  a  healthful  nature, 
on  even  the  most  intimate  subjects,  may  be  given.  In 
larger  schools  the  difl&culty  is  greatly  increased.  It  is 
almost  safe  to  say  it  increases  in  geometrical  ratio  to  the 
number  of  students,  because  of  the  moral  influence  of  the 
transference  of  thought  due  to  the  presence  of  numbers, 
containing  always  some  abnormally  self-conscious  as  to 
sex,  some  morbid,  and  some  vicious. 

Unfitness  of  Teachers.  —  The  great  danger  from  any 
general  introduction  of  this  important  topic  into  com- 
mon schools,  however,  is  in  the  teachers  themselves. 
That  does  not  mean  that  teachers  are  not  moral. 
I  beUeve  that  they  are  so  beyond  the  members 
of  most  other  professions.  Not  only  are  they  con- 
ventionally moral,  but  they  have  high  ideals  and  ex- 
alted standards  of  right  and  wrong,  and  are  extremely 
conscientious.  They  undertake  all  imposed  tasks,  and 
would  undertake  this  one,  with  the  keenest  sense  of 
responsibility  and  the  utmost  desire  to  do  good  and  not 
harm.  But  how  many  of  them  are  qualified  ?  We  must 
take  conditions  as  they  are  and  not  as  we  might  desire 
them  to  be.  A  very  large  majority  of  the  teachers  of 
this  country  are  very  young  women  of  little  experience, 
and  very  meager  knowledge  outside  the  narrow  field  of 
the  common  school  course  of  study.     Many  of  them  have 


Physiology  221 

slight  pedagogical  skill  and  no  pedagogical  training. 
Many  of  them,  probably  a  majority,  are  themselves  very 
ignorant  of  those  things  that  a  eugenist  would  have 
them  teach.  Many  of  them  are  still  adolescent  and 
sexually  self-conscious.  Attempts  on  their  part  to  give 
instruction  on  these  matters,  even  in  the  simplest  and 
broadest  way,  if  they  have  in  mind  the  relation  of  their 
instruction  to  the  sex  question,  would  greatly  embarrass 
them. 

Grave  Dangers.  —  It  is  to  be  feared  that  any  general 
course  of  study  in  sex  hygiene,  to  be  administered 
through  the  usual  channels  and  taught  by  the  ordinary 
teachers  of  our  common  schools,  instead  of  doing 
good  would  greatly  magnify  the  evils  aimed  at,  instead 
of  decreasing  them.  Without  imparting  much  pro- 
tective knowledge,  it  would  do  that  very  dangerous 
thing,  make  young  people  prematurely  conscious  of 
sex.  The  instruction  to  be  given,  needful  as  it  is, 
should  be  given  only  by  those  thoroughly  famihar 
with  the  subject,  and  also  wise,  strong,  and  mature 
enough  to  impress  young  people  without  exciting 
them,  or  arousing  undue  curiosity.  Such  instructors, 
unhappily,  in  any  system  of  schools,  public  or  private, 
are  very  few. 

Regretfully,  I  have  been  convinced  that  for  the  present 
at  least  the  necessary  instruction  beyond  the  very  broadest 
facts  of  life  reproduction  must  be  given  through  some 
other  agency  than  the  common  school.  One  thing,  how- 
ever, might  be  done  and  should  be  done,  —  in  normal 
schools  and  in  all  schools  and  colleges  for  the  training  of 
teachers,  there  should  be  very  full  and  careful  instruction 
in  the  subject  of  sex  hygiene,  sex  relationship,  and  all 


222  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

that  has  to  do  with  the  reproduction  of  Hfe,  by  thoroughly 
qualified  specialists,  to  the  members  of  the  sexes  sepa- 
rately, so  that  the  students  going  out  to  teach  may  have 
knowledge  enough  to  guide  them  in  whatever  efforts  they 
may  find  it  possible  to  make  toward  leading  their  pupils 
to  a  wise  and  wholesome  sex  life.  This  is  entirely  possible, 
and  would  be  the  opening  wedge.  If  we  could  in  this 
way  get  each  year  a  large  body  of  well-equipped  teachers 
qualified  for  this  special  phase  of  the  work,  possibly  some 
of  the  other  difficulties  might  be  disposed  of,  because  the 
one  great  difficulty  in  the  way  of  the  early  introduction 
of  sex  hygiene  into  common  schools  is  the  lack  of  fitness 
of  the  teachers  to  do  the  work. 

School  Physicians.  —  At  the  present  day  many  school 
systems,  especially  in  the  larger  cities,  employ  physi- 
cians to  visit  the  schools,  chiefly  to  discover  the 
presence  of  contagious  and  infectious  diseases.  It  is 
possible  that  in  the  high  schools  at  least,  and  perhaps 
in  the  grammar  schools,  these  physicians  might  add 
to  their  usefulness  by  talking  to  the  boys  and  girls 
separately  now  and  then  upon  certain  solitary  vices, 
and  that  such  talks,  in  addition  to  checking  these  vices, 
might  have  a  tendency  to  create  wholesome  thinking 
and  feeHng  on  the  part  of  the  boys  and  girls. 

What  I  have  here  outlined  seems  to  me  the  limit  of 
possibility  within  the  near  future  in  regard  to  teaching 
the  facts  and  principles  of  sex  hygiene.  If  the  time 
ever  comes  when  the  fundamental  crucial  facts  of  the 
reproduction  of  life  can  be  taught  to  the  young  in  such 
a  way  as  to  do  more  good  than  harm,  it  will  be  indeed  a 
happy  time.  But  I  fear  it  will  not  arrive  before  the 
millermial  days. 


CHAPTER  XXI 
Writing 

Writing  is  the  most  purely  mechanical  of  all  the  arts 
taught  in  school.  It  has  no  aesthetic  value  worth  con- 
sidering and  no  intellectual  value.  Its  sole  function  is 
to  enable  one  to  record  his  thoughts  so  that  others  may 
read  them  with  the  least  effort.  Because  of  its  limited 
value  in  education,  the  time  in  learning  to  make  this 
record  should  be  reduced  to  the  minimum. 

Children  learn  to  write  by  writing,  and  most  of  the 
writing  necessary  for  learning  to  write  can  be  obtained 
in  connection  with  the  other  school  subjects.  A  little 
time  spent  upon  the  form  and  quality  of  the  penmanship 
in  ordinary  written  exercises  in  arithmetic,  language,  and 
other  topics  will  obviate  the  necessity  of  devoting  very 
much  time  to  barren  writing  lessons. 

Too  much  "  Fuss."  —  There  is  altogether  too  much 
"  fuss "  made  over  learning  to  write.  There  are  but 
two  essentials  of  good  writing,  legibility  and  speed. 
Beauty  of  form  is  of  so  little  consequence  to  the 
ordinary  person  as  to  be  negligible  in  education. 
Unquestionably  that  method  of  writing  is  the  best 
that  enables  a  child  to  learn  to  write  legibly  and 
rapidly,  with  the  least  possible  expenditure  of  time  and 
effort.     It  is  doubtful  if  there  is  any  such  single  method. 

There  was  much  to  be  said  in  favor  of  vertical  writing, 
now   fallen  into   general   disfavor.     Children   certainly 

223 


224  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

learned  to  use  it  with  little  effort  and  to  write  legibly. 
Second  grade  children  could  write  their  short  sentences 
in  vertical  script,  so  that  any  one  could  read  them  easily, 
something  that  was  unknown  before  its  introduction. 
Whether  the  same  good  results  will  follow  the  general 
return  to  a  modified  slant  remains  to  be  seen. 

The  question  of  speed  was  never  settled  to  the  satis- 
faction of  all,  particularly  of  those  who  had  writing  books 
to  sell.  Many  rapid  writers  use  the  vertical  form,  many 
use  some  other.  It  would  seem  to  be  chiefly  a  matter 
of  the  personal  equation. 

Without  doubt  the  chief  criticism  came  from  bankers 
and  other  men  of  the  bookkeeper  class,  and  was  sheer 
prejudice  in  favor  of  the  accustomed  appearance  of  their 
account  books.  But  be  that  as  it  may,  any  system  that 
requires  a  great  amount  of  time  and  attention  to  learn 
must  justify  its  expenditure  by  better  arguments  than 
the  "  looks  "  of  a  ledger. 

Writing  is  necessarily  copying.  In  teaching  it,  there  is 
no  possibiHty  of  induction,  and  but  Httle  of  development, 
the  only  approach  to  it  being  the  analysis  of  the  letters 
into  their  constituent  lines,  and  this  analysis  can  be 
greatly  overdone. 

Analysis  of  Letters.  —  Writing  should  begin  with  the 
copying  of  whole  words,  the  same  words  that  the  child 
is  learning  to  read.  For  a  considerable  time  there  should 
be  no  attempt  at  analysis,  except  the  unconscious  anal- 
ysis made  by  the  child  himself.  Later,  as  difficulties 
manifest  themselves,  they  should  be  met  by  some  simple 
analysis  and  by  drill  on  the  troublesome  forms.  These 
will  vary  with  the  children.  Hence  the  futility  of  any 
early  general  analysis  of  letters  for  whole  classes. 


Writing  225 

First  Writing  Large.  —  The  first  writing  should  be 
large,  in  full  arm  movements.  The  smaller  muscles 
which  control  finger  movements  are  developed  rather 
late  and  they  should  not  be  forced.  Blackboard 
writing  is  best  at  the  start,  in  letters  as  large  as 
the  children  please  to  make,  the  larger  the  better. 
This  should  be  followed  by  writing  with  pencils  on 
soft  paper  without  rules,  also  in  large  letters.  The 
pencils  should  be  not  less  than  one  half  inch  in  diameter 
and  of  good  length,  that  the  children  may  grasp  them 
with  their  hands  readily,  and  be  compelled  to  use  their 
arms  to  write  with  them.  This  should  be  followed  by 
writing  between  rules  not  less  than  an  inch  apart. 
Gradually  the  size  of  the  letters  should  be  reduced  to 
the  normal,  still  with  pencils  on  soft  paper. 

The  first  pens  used  should  be  blunt,  not  sharp-pointed, 
to  retain  the  free,  large  movements.  By  the  third  year 
children  should  be  ready  for  ordinary  pens  on  ruled  or 
unruled  paper. 

The  cry  about  lack  of  individuality  in  penmanship 
after  using  any  particular  style,  as  the  vertical,  for  ex- 
ample, is  sheer  nonsense.  Individuality  comes  later, 
if  it  is  in  the  individual.  Any  style  learned  in  school  is 
sure  to  be  modified  later  by  the  user. 

Children  can  learn  to  write  by  almost  any  method,  but 
loss  of  time  in  acquiring  a  "  bookkeeper's  hand  "  in 
school  is  serious  and  there  are  things  more  worth  while. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

Motor  Activities  in  Expression 

General  Literacy  Modem.  —  Time  was  when  illiteracy 
was  no  bar  against  admission  to  good  society.  Not 
only  so,  but  literacy  was  regarded  as  a  possession  of 
doubtful  value  except  as  the  key  to  a  trade,  something  on 
a  par  with  that  of  the  smith.  The  average  knight  and 
lord  of  medieval  days  could  scarcely  read,  if  at  all.  Often 
he  could  not  even  write  his  name.  He  could  fight,  he 
could  ride,  he  could  dance,  but  reading  and  writing  he 
cheerfully  and  somewhat  contemptuously  turned  over  to 
his  menials.  It  was  no  more  necessary  for  him  to  read 
his  songs  or  write  his  letters  than  to  shoe  his  horses  or 
polish  his  armor.  Indeed,  he  was  much  more  likely  to 
do  the  latter  than  the  former. 

Have  we  gone  too  far  in  the  opposite  direction?  In 
these  days  when  the  descendants  of  these  same  knights 
seek  glory  not  on  the  gory  field,  vi  et  armis,  but  Uteris  et 
stylis,  in  the  field  of  letters  despised  of  their  fathers,  when 
the  public  library  as  well  as  the  schoolmaster  is  abroad, 
when  everybody  reads  to  his  good  will  or  ill,  when  the 
blacksmith  writes  verses  and  the  chambermaid  novels, 
when  the  limerick  contests  appeal  to  the  infant  in  arms  — 
do  we  place  too  high  a  rating  upon  the  use  of  words, 
in  comparison  with  the  other  languages  of  the  soul  ? 

Whatever  may  be  the  answer  to  this  question,  it  can 
hardly  be  doubted  that  in  our  training  of  the  young  we 

226 


Motor  Activities  in  Expression  227 

have  let  our  enthusiasm  for  those  wonderful  twin  arts, 
which  form  the  necessary  mechanical  basis  for  literature, 
close  our  eyes  to  the  value  of  the  other  arts  through  which 
man  expresses  himself.  We  are  word  mad,  and  are  so 
anxious  that  our  youth  be  able  to  take  to  themselves  the 
treasures  of  knowledge  and  thought  and  inspiration  stored 
up  in  the  world's  literature  that  we  forget  to  open  their 
eyes  to  those  other  treasures,  contained  in  the  buildings, 
the  sculpture,  the  paintings,  the  music,  the  machinery  of 
the  world. 

On  what  principle  of  common  sense  can  we  justify  this 
exaltation  of  speech,  "  the  art  of  concealing  thought," 
so  far  above  all  other  forms  of  expression  ? 

Value  of  the  Doer. — In  the  great  busy  world,  we  value 
the  doer,  the  man  who  expresses  himself  in  a  machine, 
a  house,  a  temple,  a  painting,  a  statue,  a  mill,  a  railroad, 
a  bank,  an  asylum,  a  lighthouse.  They  are  the  honored 
of  all  ages.  But  in  our  definition  of  what  we  call  edu- 
cation we  set  up  and  smugly  defend  the  Httle  two  by  four 
image  of  clay  which  we  call  Hteracy.  Then  we  fall  down 
and  worship  it  and  call  upon  all  people  to  bow  before  our 
little  god  or  be  sent  to  social  perdition.  A  man  may 
build  factories,  cities,  nations,  but  unless  he  is  "up"  on 
Ibsen  he  is  uneducated. 

I  am  not  ignorant  of  the  many  attempts  to  remedy  this 
defect  that  have  struggled  for  recognition  for  thirty  years 
past  with  varying  success.  The  "  object  lessons  "  the 
"  manual  training,"  the  occasional  attention  to  appre- 
ciative study  of  the  fine  arts,  —  all  are  indications  of  a 
real,  if  vague,  sense  of  lack  in  our  curricula.  But  these 
efforts  as  yet  have  been  sporadic  and  undigested  and  too 
often  ephemeral. 


228  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

Courses  out  of  Balance.  —  We  still  must  ask  ourselves 
whether  our  courses  of  study  are  not  out  of  balance, 
whether  having  secured  the  irreducible  minimum  of  liter- 
acy, — ability  to  read  or  write  effectively,  —  the  remaining 
time  should  not  be  distributed  more  nearly  in  accordance 
with  the  values  of  the  other  matters  that  may  be  taught. 
We  have  greatly  extended  the  average  of  school  at- 
tendance, but  the  extension  of  work  has  been  nearly  all 
along  one  line.     Do  we  need  a  reform  ? 

Two  Phases  of  Every  Course.  —  As  stated  in  Chapter 
I,  every  course  of  study  necessarily  represents  two  phases 
of  education :  a  body  of  knowledge  to  be  learned,  and  a 
range  of  activities,  to  secure  through  expression  the  re- 
actions necessary,  not  only  to  learning  itself,  but  what 
is  even  more  important,  to  the  growth  of  the  mind. 

These  two  phases  are  naturally  complementary,  and 
hence,  although  the  specific  topic  of  this  chapter  is  the 
latter  phase,  that  of  expression,  and  a  single  aspect  of 
that,  this  brief  consideration  of  the  other  phase  seems  to 
me  necessary  as  an  introduction. 

All  Arts  Necessarj'.  —  In  the  economy  of  life  all  the 
arts  have  their  place.  He  who  can  read  the  "  sermons 
in  stones  "  and  the  rest  of  it ;  he  to  whom  Nature  "  speaks 
a  various  language  "  ;  he  who  looks  with  eye  of  apprecia- 
tion upon  the  Taj  Mahal;  he  who  can  feast  his  mind 
upon  the  beauties  of  a  Venus  de  Melos  or  a  Transfigura- 
tion ;  he  who  is  intelligently  and  deeply  moved  by  "con- 
cord of  sweet  sounds,"  surely  he  has  a  valuable  education, 
even  though  his  knowledge  of  literature  be  meager. 
And  more,  he  who  can  read  comprehendingly  and  with 
pleasure  a  locomotive,  a  turbine  steamer,  an  electric 
lamp,  a  telephone,  a  wireless  outfit,  or  even  a  compli- 


Motor  Activities  in  Expression  229 

Gated  tool,  a  piece  of  furniture,  a  boot,  a  suit  of  clothes, 
has  his  compensations  for  lack  of  literary  training.  He 
can  put  himself  as  really  into  communication  with  the 
efforts  of  some  fellow-man  to  express  the  best  that  is  in 
him  as  by  reading  a  poem.  Truly  then,  when  we  have 
passed  the  irreducible  minimum  of  literacy,  we  need  to 
consider  well  whether  the  children  should  not  be  led  to 
the  contemplation  of  more  varied  and  richer  knowledges 
than  are  contained  in  any  merely  verbal  record. 

Range  of  Activities.  —  This  leads  directly  to  the  range 
of  activities  suggested  for  the  course  of  study.  Of  what 
expressive  arts  should  the  child  be  put  in  possession,  and 
why? 

Why  teach  Arts  of  Expression.  —  Why  teach  any 
arts  of  expression?  The  first  reason  is  really  sub- 
conscious. It  is  of  the  nature  of  instinct  that  children 
should  be  instructed  into  the  modes  of  being  and  doing 
of  the  race.  Hence  training  in  expressive  activities  al- 
ways and  naturally  precedes  the  imparting  of  formal 
knowledge  and  the  earliest  knowledge  imparted  is  that 
which  bears  upon  and  illumines  the  activities.  The 
educative  business  of  the  infant  is  to  kick,  to  creep,  to 
walk  and  talk,  to  cry  and  make  up  faces.  Knowledge  is 
incidental  and  auxiliary.  For  a  long  time  he  cares  to 
know  only  or  chiefly  that  which  will  help  him  directly 
to  do  something.  He  learns  to  do  many  things,  in  imita- 
tion of  his  elders  and  to  gratify  his  desires,  while  his 
knowledge,  except  as  directly  related  to  his  activities,  is 
practically  nil.  That  is,  he  falls  without  effort  into  the 
life  of  the  race,  and  begins  to  do  his  part  as  a  member 
of  it ;  for  the  great  business  of  the  race  is  to  do  things. 
Records,  talk  about  it,  are  subsidiary  or  supplementary. 


230  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

So  the  instinct  of  the  savage  in  training  his  child  to  do 
the  things  that  he  does,  in  putting  him  in  possession  of 
the  arts,  the  expressive  activities  of  his  people,  and  the 
instinct  of  the  young  mother,  alike  innocent  of  psy- 
chology and  pedagogy,  who  dances  her  baby  and,  as  soon 
as  possible,  encourages  him  to  do  his  utmost  to  make 
himself  known  and  felt  and  heard,  are  alike  sound,  alike 
in  consonance  with  the  evolution  of  man  and  the  highest 
achievements  of  the  race. 

Caution  to  Teachers.  —  And  we  teachers  need  to  be 
very  sure  of  our  ground  before  we  switch  the  child  off 
abruptly  from  this  normal,  natural,  time-honored  train- 
ing into  an  empirical,  unnatural  searching  for  mere 
knowledge  without  the  accompan>dng  and  vi\-ifying  ac- 
tivity. To  take  a  child  of  six  who  has  been  educating 
himself  in  active  games,  using,  abusing,  breaking  toys, 
making  mud  pies,  constructing  trains  of  cars,  building 
block  houses,  Hving  a  real  life,  and  plant  him  in  a  desk 
made  for  sitting  still,  and  stuff  him  with  words,  repress- 
ing his  natural  activities,  is  admittedly  a  crime  against 
nature.  But  it  does  not  cease  to  be  a  crime  when  he  is 
twelve  years  old  in  a  grammar  school  or  sixteen  in  a  high 
school.  To  such  unwise,  unnatural,  artificial  attempts 
to  violate  the  eternal  laws  of  development  are  due  much 
of  the  "  badness,"  the  uneasiness,  and  the  stupidity  of 
children  in  school,  which  move  teachers  to  exasperation, 
parents  to  despair,  and  the  children  themselves  to  law- 
lessness, hatred  of  school,  and  truancy.  So  this  first 
reason  why  we  should  teach  expressive  activities  may  be 
called  racial. 

Reaction  Necessary.  —  The  second  reason  is  to  pro- 
vide  the  reaction  necessary  to  learning.     It  may  be 


Motor  Activities  in  Expression  231 

called  the  psychological  reason.  It  is  a  truism  that  there 
is  no  learning  without  reaction.  The  impression  that 
neither  is  accompanied  by  vivifying  expression  nor  rests 
upon  previous  expression  is  either  wholly  barren  or 
hopelessly  and  often  ludicrously  erroneous. 

The  Rigmarole.  —  Disregard  of  this  great  fact  in 
teaching  is  responsible  for  the  rigmarole,  that  most 
wasteful  and  deadening  of  school  methods,  —  though 
quite  common,  —  the  learning  and  reciting  of  words  in 
an  established  order,  without  thought.  We  Httle  ap- 
preciate the  absurd  interpretations  often  put  upon 
wordy  rigmaroles  memorized  and  so  glibly  reeled  off 
by  the  children  as  to  delude  us  into  the  belief  that 
they  comprehend  what  they  say.  Doubtless  we  can  all 
recall  from  our  own  childhood  these  absurd  notions 
drawn  from  words  that  we  used  in  our  school  recitations 
and  perhaps  especially  in  prayers  and  other  religious 
exercises.  The  well-worn  "consecrated  cross-eyed  bear" 
story  is  no  exaggeration. 

Knowledge  without  expression  is  no  knowledge. 
Reciting  words  about  an  idea  is  not  necessarily  ex- 
pressing the  idea  at  all  and  may  not  indicate  the 
slightest  conception  of  the  idea.  In  the  use  of  no 
other  form  of  possible  expression  is  deception  so  easy 
or  so  common.  This  is  one  reason  why  it  is  so 
necessary  to  employ  many  kinds  of  expression  in  the 
training  of  children. 

Dr.  John  Dewey's  experience  in  getting  desks  for  the 
children  in  his  experimental  school  shows  how  sadly 
devoted  we  are  to  apply  the  analogy  of  the  tub  to  the 
child  mind.  "  Every  child  is  a  tub,  whose  function  is 
to  sit  still  while  the  teacher  pours  into  it  a  stream  of 


232  What  Children  Study  and  Why- 

useful  knowledge,  and  a  good  tub  does  not  leak.  More- 
over, wisdom  is  like  to  good  wine.  Its  perfection  comes 
through  resting  long  in  quiet  places.  To  cause  it  to 
move  about  prevents  the  settling  of  the  lees."  Upon 
such  philosophy  is  a  large  part  of  our  educational  struc- 
ture founded. 

Why  do  Children  learn  slowly  in  School  ?  —  The  in- 
fant creeps,  kicks,  dances,  screams,  strikes,  plays, 
imitates,  goes  through  millions  of  antic  activities 
that  would  tire  an  adult  to  death,  and  through 
it  all  grows  and  learns  with  a  rapidity  almost  mi- 
raculous. When  this  baby  comes  to  school  why  does 
he  learn  so  slowly?  If  a  teacher  could  keep  the  in- 
tellectual growth  of  the  children  in  school  at  even  ap- 
proximately its  rate  before  coming  to  school,  he  would 
be  exhibited  as  a  freak. 

The  best  in  our  best  schools  is  natural  baby  activity 
utilized  and  extended.  This  is  found  in  the  kindergarten 
and  in  the  rare  but  occasional  primary  school.  Its  secret 
is  expression,  natural,  free,  varied,  and  abundant  expres- 
sion —  as  the  antecedent,  the  consequent,  the  accom- 
paniment, the  vitalizing  force  of  impression.  It  is  with 
knowledge  as  it  is  with  life ;  the  more  we  put  into  it  of 
effort,  of  vital  force,  the  richer  we  are  in  possession,  in 
power. 

The  Practical  Reason.  —  The  third  reason  for  treat- 
ing expressive  activities  as  fundamental  in  the  training 
of  children  is  the  practical  one.  The  more  numerous 
the  means  of  expression  open  to  a  human  being,  the 
greater  the  possibility  of  his  rendering  efficient  service 
in  life,  the  less  the  Hkelihood  of  his  being  "  a  square  peg 
in  a  round  hole."     We  teach  children  that  the  doer  is 


Motor  Activities  in  Expression  233 

greater  than  the  recorder,  the  warrior  than  the  minstrel 
who  sang  his  deeds,  but  we  train  children  only  in  the 
lesser  art.  Each  child  is  entitled  to  a  training  in  the 
particular  art  of  expression  through  which  he  can  best 
express  his  best.  For  all  the  arts  are  but  avenues  of 
expression,  through  which  men  send  the  output  of  their 
souls  to  their  fellow-men.  Everything  we  do  expresses 
ourselves  in  some  degree.  But  the  expression  is  often 
inadequate  and  unconvincing  because  we  have  not 
mastered  the  art  that  is  best  for  us.  We  need  a  recasting 
of  values  and  a  study  of  adaptation.  The  great  successes 
of  the  world  are  attained  when  men  of  rich  natures  have 
discovered  the  means,  best  for  them,  of  distributing  their 
riches.  Indeed,  individual  success  is  almost  wholly  de- 
pendent upon  finding  means  of  expression,  adequate  and 
personally  suitable. 

If  Sir  Christopher  Wren  had  tried  to  express  himself 
in  poetry  instead  of  in  stone,  probably  the  world  would 
have  had  some  more  poor  verses  and  certainly  no  St. 
Paul's  cathedral. 

Do  we  not  owe  it  to  the  children  to  give  them  such 
familiarity  with  the  various  expressive  arts  that  each 
may  both  find  the  one  that  is  best  for  him  and  besides 
may  have  at  his  command  as  auxiliary  other  arts  for  the 
enrichment  of  Hfe  and  the  widening  of  opportunity  ?  Is 
our  modern  education  in  danger  of  dwindling,  Uke  Echo, 
to  a  mere  voice? 

Why  Motor  Activities.  —  Why  should  the  expressive 
activities  that  are  to  receive  emphasis  in  schools  be  motor 
activities  ?  First,  perhaps,  because  of  a  sort  of  necessary 
elimination.  Practically  all  expressive  activities  ex- 
cepting those  involved  in  verbal  expression  are  motor 


234  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

activities.  So  if  we  are  to  increase  the  number,  we  must 
perforce  include  the  motor  activities.  But  this  of  itself 
speaks  volumes.  It  seems  as  if  Nature  had  sought  to 
make  it  impossible  to  avoid  any  neglect  of  these  agencies 
in  education.  If  that  was  her  intent,  she  did  not  take 
sufficient  account  of  the  ingenuity  of  the  schoolmaster. 
Give  us  half  a  chance  and  we  will  beat  Nature  every  time, 
both  vitiating  her  method  and  defeating  her  purposes. 

But  there  are  special  reasons  in  the  nature  of  the  mind 
itself  why  the  motor  activities  are  all-important  for  the 
very  act  of  learning  and  consequently  for  all  mental 
growth.  The  exercise  of  the  motor  activities  com- 
bines in  a  most  remarkable  manner  the  fulfillment  of 
its  manifest  function,  —  that  of  expressing  thought, 
—  with  the  development  of  mental  power  in  the  in- 
dividual. The  reasons  for  this  are  both  scientific  and 
practical. 

Brain  Areas.  —  The  physiological  psychologist  will 
tell  you  of  extensive  brain  areas  in  which  the  termini  of 
the  afferent  and  efferent  nerves  affecting  motor  action, 
observation,  reasoning,  and  verbal  expression  are  so 
closely  related  as  to  produce  the  utmost  harmony  of  ac- 
tion. Whether  as  the  result  of  some  transference  of 
power  similar  to  electrical  induction,  or  because  of  an 
actual  physiological  union,  there  seems  to  be  an  inter- 
change of  stimulation,  so  that  one  cannot  act  without 
rousing  the  others  to  activity. 

Herein  is  the  explanation  of  many  common  phe- 
nomena. Natural  gesture,  which  necessarily  preceded 
speech  as  a  means  of  expression,  and  almost  always  ac- 
companies it  unless  artificially  restrained,  is  due  merely 
to  these  transferred  currents. 


Motor  Activities  in  Expression  235 

Thinking  is  always  naturally,  and  almost  always  prac- 
tically, accompanied  by  an  attempt  at  expression,  both 
in  words  and  in  motor  activity.  This,  too,  is  due  to  the 
constitution  of  the  brain,  which  imperatively  demands 
motor  expression,  especially  in  the  young,  as  a  condition 
to  thinking  itself,  and  hence  to  all  brain  development. 

Moreover,  in  this  federation  of  nerve  termini  the  motor 
nerves  seem  to  dominate.  If  they  are  or  become  inert, 
the  brain  loses  its  other  activities  and  dies.  The  child 
born  without  motor  power  is  always  an  idiot.  His 
earhest  means  of  expressing  himself  being  lacking,  he 
never  arrives  at  the  later  ones.  He  never  has  any  con- 
scious self  to  express. 

Motor  Activity  and  the  Defective.  —  On  the  other 
hand,  a  child  almost  idiotic,  but  with  enough  motor  power 
to  utilize  for  educational  purposes,  by  a  carefully  ordered 
system  of  motor  expressive  activities,  may  be  raised 
from  the  plane  of  the  hopelessly  defective  into  that  of  the 
fairly  intelligent  and  intellectually  capable.  Indeed,  the 
training  of  the  motor  activities  is  the  main  reliance  of  all 
those  institutions  for  the  feeble-minded  that  have  rescued 
from  mental  darkness  and  economic  helplessness  so 
many  thousands  of  the  "  Born  Shorts."  And  this  is  all 
made  possible  by  that  marvelous  clearing  house  of  nerve 
activities  in  the  brain.  Truly  a  force  so  mighty  for  good 
should  not  be  ignored  in  the  training  of  the  normal  child. 
Nature  utilizes  it  first  and  chiefly  in  her  development  of 
the  infant.  All  people  everywhere  in  all  ages  have  put 
their  rehance  upon  it  for  the  development  of  the  young, 
—  all  but  the  schoolmaster.  We,  the  professional 
teachers  of  youth,  in  all  ages  and  peoples,  have  inclined 
to  limit  our  training  of  the  young  to  that  which  can 


236  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

be  obtained  through  some  form  of  logomachy,  the  ut- 
terance and  arrangement  of  words.  But  fortunately, 
Nature  has  kept  right  on  working  in  spite  of  us. 

Of  recent  years  there  has  been  much  evidence  of  a  re- 
turn to  the  ways  of  Nature.  It  is  manifested  in  manual 
training  courses,  manual  training  schools,  trade  and  in- 
dustrial schools  of  various  sorts,  systematic  physical 
culture,  and  occasionally  a  rational  and  scientific  co- 
ordination of  developmental  motor  activities  with  other 
means  of  rousing  and  expressing  thought,  as  a  funda- 
mental part  of  the  educational  scheme.  But  such  co- 
ordination is  as  yet  sporadic  and  unusual. 

Lack  of  Coordination.  —  In  most  schools  the  motor 
exercises  constitute  an  uncoordinated  and  seldom  un- 
derstood addendum  to  an  already  crowded  curriculum. 
While  few  teachers  nowadays  have  the  courage  to  say 
that  they  do  not  believe  in  manual  training,  few  have  a 
really  clear  notion  of  what  it  is  for.  The  most  vibrate 
between  its  industrial  and  occupational  values  and  what 
they  call  its  "  educational "  usefulness,  insisting,  however, 
with  the  bhnd  certainty  of  instinct,  that  the  educational 
use  is  the  real  one.  These  values,  however,  are  put  for- 
ward as  excuses  rather  than  as  imperative  reasons. 

The  industrial  reason  is  valid  and  powerful  and  does 
not  need  to  be  advanced  apologetically.  That  manual 
training  exercises  make  it  easier  for  the  average  child  to 
find  himself  and  his  place  and  to  make  a  better  Hving, 
because  he  does  something  worth  more  to  the  world  than 
would  be  possible  without  such  training,  is  a  perfectly 
proper  argument  which  does  not  need  to  blush  for  its  own 
existence,  and  is  in  itself  a  quite  sufiicient  ground  for 
all  the  manual  training  now  in  the  schools  and  more. 


Motor  Activities  in  Expression  237 

Meaning  of  ' '  Educational . "  —  But  the  educational  value 
is  not  so  easily  understood.  The  very  term  educational 
is  conveniently  indefinable.  Hence  it  is  a  handy  cover- 
ing for  a  multitude  of  sins  and  idiosyncrasies  in  teach- 
ing. It  is  the  universal  shield  of  the  ignorant  and  hard- 
pressed.  When  the  father  says,  "  I  don't  want  John  to 
study  music.  It  ain't  practical,"  all  the  teacher  has  to 
do  is  to  look  wise  and  say,  "  Of  course,  Mr.  Smith,  it 
may  not  be  very  practical,  but  it's  very  educational," 
and  she  has  Mr.  Smith  down  and  out.  "  Educational  " 
is  a  great  word.  To  the  teacher  it  is  both  shibboleth 
and  conjure  word.  It  is  as  effective  as  Sydney  Smith's 
"  rectangular  parallelopipedon  "  with  which  he  silenced 
the  old  woman  calling  him  names. 

Now,  of  course,  all  motor  activities  that  deserve  a  place 
in  school  are  educational  and  that  is  the  chief  reason  for 
having  them  there.  They  are  educational  as  all  the 
natural  activities  of  life,  especially  those  with  a  definite 
motive,  are  educational.  They  enable  the  developing 
soul  to  express  itself  and  by  that  act  to  grow.  This  is 
simple,  psychological,  and  plain.  We  grow  through 
expression.  Impression,  learning,  gives  us  the  ma- 
terial, but  it's  expression,  putting  forth,  exercise,  —  call 
it  what  you  will,  —  that  works  the  external  fact  into 
knowledge,  an  internal  condition  of  growth,  and  also 
makes  room  and  creates  the  demand  for  more  and 
more  material.  We  might  as  well  try  to  make  flour  by 
pouring  wheat  into  a  motionless  hopper  as  to  make 
mind  by  pouring  facts  into  an  expressionless  child. 

Hence  if  we  are  to  get  the  real  value  of  motor  activities, 
they  must  not  be  tacked  on  the  week's  work  in  school  as 
an  extra,  placed  there  by  sufferance,  but  they  must  be  a 


238  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

coordinated  and  fundamental  part  of  the  regular  work, 
as  really  so  as  is  language  expression. 

To  make  for  real  comprehension  of  the  content  sub- 
jects of  the  curriculum,  such  as  history,  geography,  arith- 
metic, and  to  secure  the  highest  and  most  permanent 
results  from  them,  expression  through  motor  activities 
must  be  secured  regularly  and  systematically. 

If  you  doubt  this  and  have  never  tried  it,  do  so  as  an 
experiment.  Be  honest  with  yourself  and  open  minded 
about  it.  First  think  why  it  is  so  or  may  be  so.  The 
thing  you  have  made  you  understand.  The  muddy 
notions  too  often  left  by  words  are  all  made  clear  when 
with  brush  or  pencil,  or  other  tools,  you  have  realized 
your  idea.  With  a  child  this  is  doubly  true.  The  thing 
he  has  made  even  crudely  is  the  thing  he  knows.  This 
is  the  philosophy  of  all  the  constructive  work  of  the  kin- 
dergarten and  primary  school.  It  is  not  necessary  even 
that  the  thing  made  resemble  very  closely,  to  another's 
eye,  the  object  supposed  to  be  represented.  To  the  child 
it  is  the  thing.  He  sees  it.  His  hands  have  made  it. 
It  may  be  a  house,  or  a  bridge,  or  a  rainbow,  made  with 
kindergarten  blocks ;  to  the  maker  it  stands  for  an  idea, 
and  the  making  of  it  has  made  that  idea  clear  to  him  as 
words  could  not  do.  By  that  mysterious  process  of  the 
conservation  of  energy  through  interchange,  his  ex- 
penditure of  motor  energy  in  construction  has  brought 
about  a  more  active  and  efficient  exercise  of  his  brain, 
and  while  the  world  may  not  have  benefited  directly  by 
his  action,  his  own  mind  has  been  strengthened  and 
enriched  by  the  reaction.  The  child  has  learned,  not 
by  Hstening  to  a  description  in  words,  but  by  expressing 
through  motor  activities  his  embryonic  idea.     Through 


Motor  Activities  in  Expression  239 

this  attempt  at  expression,  his  glimmering  of  an  impres- 
sion has  become  clear  comprehension. 

School  Possibilities.  —  Is  it  possible  to  have  in  the 
ordinary  school  such  a  coordination  of  motor  activities 
with  the  existing  course  of  study  as  shall  not  add  to  the 
crowding,  but  rather  shall  furnish  relief  by  supplying  an 
essential  connecting  element  that  is  clarifying,  stimu- 
lating, developing,  and  harmonizing?  Can  we  in  our 
teaching  of  language,  history,  and  geography  and  the 
other  topics,  make  use  of  that  marvelous  unifying  agency 
in  the  brain  of  which  we  have  spoken  ? 

My  answer  is,  not  only  can  it  be  done,  but  it  is  easy ; 
it  would  simplify  many  now  troublesome  problems,  and 
it  requires  no  new  machinery.  Indeed,  it  makes  it 
possible  to  lessen  the  amount  of  machinery  in  use.  It 
requires  simply  a  certain  freedom  from  convention,  the 
courage  of  our  convictions,  and  common  sense,  the 
bringing  into  the  schoolroom  of  some  of  the  practical 
wisdom  of  the  home  and  the  playground. 

The  Language  Lesson.  —  Language  is  perhaps  more 
nearly  than  any  other  a  central  subject,  and  serves  best 
as  an  illustration.  The  teaching  of  language  has  a  lower 
and  a  higher  function,  indeed  several  of  them.  The 
lower  function  is  to  acquaint  the  children  with  the  rules 
of  conventionally  correct  speech.  The  higher  include 
truthfulness,  clearness,  and  fluency  of  speech,  and,  what 
is  even  greater,  the  same  quahties  of  thought.  The  lower 
function  is  the  one  most  in  the  minds  of  teachers.  The 
method  is  by  rule  and  example.  That  the  method 
usually  fails  to  secure  the  result  aimed  at  is  not  my 
present  point;  I  am  more  concerned  with  the  higher 
aims  of  the  subject. 


240  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

If  the  higher  ends  of  language  instruction  are  looked 
after,  —  the  stimulation  of  good  thinking  and  its  clear, 
forceful,  accurate,  and  fluent  expression,  —  the  habit  of 
conventionally  correct  speech  may  be  formed  easily 
through  such  expression. 

If  the  lower  end  only  is  looked  after  in  the  usual  way, 
not  only  will  the  higher  ends  perforce  suffer  neglect,  but 
the  lower  end  itself,  the  habit  of  conventionally  correct 
speech,  will  fail  of  attainment. 

It  is  evident  that  clear  thinking  is  necessary  to  efl&cient 
expression.  Aside  from  a  merely  verbal  knowledge  of 
the  conventions  of  speech,  it  is  absolutely  impossible  to  se- 
cure good  language  results  without  at  the  same  time  se- 
curing good  thinking.  The  two  are  inseparable.  Here 
is  the  occasion  for  a  rational  use  of  the  motor  activities. 
Here  the  teachers  may  utilize  their  extraordinary  power 
to  clarify  thought  and  may  make  manual  training  a  real 
educational  force  in  daily  school  work.  Suppose  you 
are  a  primary  teacher  and  are  to  have  an  oral  lesson  in 
which  you  want  the  children  to  talk  fluently  and  well, 
thus  acquiring  correct  language  habits.  You  choose 
the  story  of  Joseph.  You  first  try  to  give  the  pupils 
the  proper  stock  of  knowledge,  the  necessary  mental 
picture.  You  talk  to  them,  you  tell  them  the  story,  you 
describe  the  life  of  the  nomad  in  the  wilderness,  and  later 
the  hfe  at  the  Egyptian  court.  You  paint  word  pictures 
of  Asiatic  and  Egyptian  scenery.  Perhaps  if  the  children 
are  old  enough,  you  have  them  read  in  books  about  it 
all.  You  carry  on  the  study  through  a  series  of  lessons. 
But  you  never  know  what  the  words  used  mean  to  the 
children.  Your  description  of  Oriental  life  may  produce 
such  responses  as  that  of  the  boy  who,  after  learning  a 


Motor  Activities  in  Expression  241 

definition  of  the  equator,  described  it  as  a  "  menagerie 
lion,  running  around  the  middle  of  the  world."  How  can 
you  make  sure?  Use  the  motor  activities.  Let  the 
children  represent  Joseph  in  his  various  environments 
in  some  tangible  material.  It  makes  little  difference  how 
crude  and  simple  the  material  is.  A  long  table  in  each 
primary  schoolroom  is  almost  essential  to  clear  mental 
pictures  and  good  language.  It  is  better  that  the  table 
be  what  is  usually  called  a  "  sand  table,"  and  it  should 
contain  slightly  moistened  sand  for  manipulation. 

The  children  will  supply  gladly  all  the  articles  necessary, 
such  as  dolls  and  other  toys,  or  better,  objects  made  di- 
rectly by  hand  from  clay  or  wood  or  paper, — and  working 
as  you  tell  the  story,  from  day  to  day,  they  will  at  the  end 
have  a  panorama  marvelous  in  its  inclusiveness,  but  a 
source  of  very  great  pleasure  to  them  and  a  stimulant  to 
thought  and  its  expression.  They  will  then  have  no  vague 
ideas  about  the  story.  The  mental  picture  will  be  clean- 
cut  and  definite,  and  they  will  talk  both  fluently  and  well. 
Their  brains  will  have  received  great  stimulation.  The 
language  founts  will  be  very  near.  The  words  used  by 
the  teacher  in  telling  the  story  will  be  ineffaceably  im- 
pressed upon  the  mind  and  will  be  used  by  the  children. 

I  have  seen  third-grade  children  of  foreign  extraction 
talk  from  a  sand  table  on  the  story  of  Beowulf  a  half  hour 
at  a  stretch  each,  in  good  English  and  with  absorbing  in- 
terest, and  the  use  of  the  motor  activities  made  it  pos- 
sible. 

The  same  principle  applies  to  history,  to  geography, 
to  arithmetic,  to  all  subjects  capable  of  illustration  by 
the  pupils. 

It  is  perhaps  easier  to  employ  such  illustrative  ex- 


242  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

ercises  in  the  primary  grades,  where  there  is  compara- 
tively little  differentiation  of  subject,  but  a  httle  care 
will  find  means  for  the  use  of  this  great  principle  in  all 
grades. 

Arithmetic.  —  In  arithmetic  the  opportunities  are 
many.  Practically  all  the  work  in  denominate  numbers, 
and  especially  in  mensuration,  can  be  greatly  simplified 
and  strengthened  by  suitable  motor  exercises. 

I  recall  a  visit  to  the  School  of  Education  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago  when  Colonel  Parker  was  its  head. 
That  great  teacher  understood  and  utilized  the  place 
of  motor  expression  in  clarifying  thought.  The  arith- 
metic classes  were  building  a  playhouse  on  the  school 
ground.  All  the  operations  were  carried  on  by  the  chil- 
dren. They  bought  the  lumber  and  other  material, 
at  least  theoretically,  cut,  sawed,  fitted  the  parts,  and 
literally  built  the  house.  The  work  called  also  for  a  very 
considerable  practical  knowledge  of  financial  transac- 
tions, and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  that  knowledge  was  real 
rather  than  verbal.  Those  facts  of  mensuration  and 
finance  were  sawed,  hammered,  and  planed  into  the 
children's  minds  by  their  own  activities,  and  could  not 
be  forgotten. 

Geometry.  —  As  I  recall,  my  attention  was  first 
directed  to  this  principle  years  ago  in  one  of  the  earliest 
and  best  of  the  now  numerous  manual  training  high 
schools.  Because  of  its  newness  the  progress  of  its  pupils 
was  carefully  watched  in  comparison  with  that  of  pupils 
in  the  old  high  school  pursuing  the  same  subjects.  It 
was  found  that  in  mathematics  they  easily  far  out- 
stripped the  academic  pupils.  This  was  especially  true 
in  geometry.     The  reason  was  manifest.     They  were 


Motor  Activities  in  Expression  243 

dealing  with  geometric  problems  in  the  concrete,  em- 
ploying motor  activities.  So  that  it  required  no  effort 
on  their  part  to  see  the  relations  of  geometrical  magni- 
tudes, because  they  had  not  only  felt  them,  they  had 
worked  them  out  and  produced  them  with  their  hands. 

Physical  Culture.  —  There  is  another  form  of  motor 
expression  possessing  great  possibilities  which  have  been 
thus  far  quite  generally  overlooked.  I  refer  to  what  is 
popularly  called  "  physical  culture."  It  has  been  com- 
mon for  years  for  pupils  in  schools  to  be  put  through 
various  cahsthenic  exercises,  to  relieve  the  tedium  of 
long  sitting,  to  discharge  overcrowded  nerve  centers,  and 
in  general  to  accord  with  the  dictum  that  exercise  is 
"  good  for  "  the  children.  These  are  sound  reasons, 
and  the  exercises  have  served,  no  doubt,  a  very  useful 
purpose.  But  they  have  fallen  very  far  short  of  their 
legitimate  function  of  giving  effective  and  graceful  ex- 
pression to  thought  and  feeling.  Like  manual  training, 
physical  culture  has  been  tacked  on  the  course  of  study 
as  an  extra  instead  of  being  coordinated  with  it  as  both 
a  stimulant  and  a  means  of  expressing  thought.  In  a 
few  progressive  schools  and  systems  of  schools  attempts 
have  been  made  at  a  proper  coordination  of  physical 
culture  with  the  other  studies,  with  remarkable  results. 
The  work  done  in  the  Teachers  College,  Columbia  Uni- 
versity, that  by  Miss  Belle  R.  Parsons  in  Los  Angeles, 
and  that  by  Miss  M.  B.  Newton  in  Rochester,  N.Y., 
show  what  may  be  accomplished  with  Uttle  extra  effort. 

Gesture,  the  Earliest  Language. — And  why  not? 
Gesture  is  the  earliest  of  languages.  There  are  few 
emotions  or  thoughts  that  may  not  be  expressed  in 
gesture.     Few  people  can  talk  at  all  without  gesture. 


244  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

The  natural  gestures  of  the  baby  are  accurate  as  well  as 
graceful.  Anger,  love,  hunger,  joy,  content,  are  all 
plainly  manifested  without  the  utterance  of  a  word. 

Pantomime  and  Drama.  —  Under  proper  instruction, 
this  use  of  the  body  to  express  thought  has  received 
a  very  high  development  among  specialists.  The  pan- 
tomime is  merely  organized  gesture.  We  have  the  high- 
est development  of  gesture  in  the  drama,  where  it  is  co- 
ordinated with  expression  in  words,  and  in  the  opera, 
where  it  is  alHed  with  vocal  and  instrumental  music  to 
express  the  deepest  and  the  loftiest  emotions. 

All  these  phases  of  motor  expression  in  simplified 
form  may  be  used  with  propriety  in  the  schools.  Dances 
representing  national  customs  in  connection  with  history, 
games  of  all  sorts  dear  to  the  young,  movements  repre- 
senting in  rhythmic  pantomime  the  various  industries 
of  men,  tableaux  vivants,  shomng  modes  of  motion  in 
nature,  as  the  undulatory  movements  of  the  sea  and  the 
air,  the  flowing  of  water,  the  waving  of  trees  and  of  fields 
of  grain,  the  locomotion  of  beasts,  the  flight  of  birds,  and 
many  more,  introduced  into  school,  will  illumine  the 
various  subjects  of  the  curriculum  and  afiford  a  useful 
outlet  for  the  child's  natural  love  of  self-expression,  be- 
sides furnishing  good  exercise. 

The  Drama  in  School.  —  One  of  the  best  exercises  in 
connection  with  the  study  of  history,  of  language,  and 
of  Hterature  is  the  drama.  Plays  made  and  acted  by 
the  pupils,  representing  the  stories  they  read,  the  events 
of  history,  the  activities  that  they  describe  in  words,  so 
clarify  impression  as  to  render  the  facts  learned  unforget- 
able,  while  giving  the  children  the  advantage  of  express- 
ing themselves  in  the  most  complete  manner  possible. 


Motor  Activities  in  Expression  245 

Instances  could  be  multiplied  without  number,  show- 
ing how  the  motor  activities  may  be  employed  in  school, 
not  as  extra  exercises,  burdening  both  teacher  and  pupils 
with  a  new  subject,  but  rather,  illumining  and  reenforc- 
ing  the  standard  subjects  now  in  the  curriculum  and  at 
the  same  time  bringing  joy  and  freedom  into  the  daily 
tasks  and  changing  drudgery  into  alluring  and  fasci- 
nating employment. 

Reform  Needed.  —  Our  entire  scheme  of  manual  train- 
ing and  physical  culture  must  be  recast  along  the  lines 
of  the  expression  of  thought  and  feeHng.  Manual  train- 
ing has  made  long  strides  in  that  direction  already. 
The  meaningless  exercise  of  the  early  day  is  rapidly  dis- 
appearing, and  pupils  make  things  for  a  purpose,  to 
express  some  thought  or  feeHng.  But  this  thought  or 
feehng  is  too  often  artificial,  worked  up  for  the  occasion, 
to  give  excuse  for  the  exercise,  instead  of  being  a  vital 
idea  forcibly  demanding  utterance. 

Physical  culture  has  not  yet  moved  clearly  in  the  direc- 
tion of  common  sense,  except  in  here  and  there  a  school. 
The  exercises  are  still  exercises  merely,  sawing  the  unresist- 
ing air  or  contorting  the  body  into  ungraceful  shapes 
with  no  manifest  motive  beyond  that  of  mere  exercise. 

But  the  time  is  coming  when  manual  training  will  be 
a  regular  part  of  the  thought-developing  and  thought- 
expressing  machinery  of  the  common  school,  when  every 
exercise  will  be  an  aid  to  the  solution  of  a  pressing  school 
problem,  when  the  children  will  express  their  ideas  as 
naturally  with  saw  or  plane  or  hammer,  or  pencil,  or 
brush,  or  chisel,  operating  on  soHd  material,  as  with  the 
gUb  tongue  uttering  articulated  breath  or  with  the  pen 
making  symbols  on  a  white  plane. 


246  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

And  physical  culture  will  be  the  expression  in  graceful, 
symbohc  movements  of  genuine  thought  and  feeling,  the 
gesture  developed  to  include  countless  expressive  move- 
ments, the  dance  representing  in  graceful  symbolism 
the  rhythmical  movements  of  nature,  —  air,  ocean,  trees, 
and  streams,  —  and  of  the  animals,  and  also  the  activities 
and  industries  of  man;  and  last  and  highest  of  all,  the 
drama,  and  these  not  treated  as  separate  exercises  but 
as  drawn  from  and  related  to  the  Hfe  and  education  of 
the  child,  clarifying  and  illumining  the  dark  places  of 
the  school. 


i 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

Industrial  Training 

Motor  activities  as  applied  to  the  work  of  the  school 
fall  naturally  into  two  classes,  the  educational  and  the 
industrial.  These  names  are,  however,  inexact  and  to 
a  degree  misleading,  inasmuch  as  all  activity,  especially 
all  school  activity,  is  educational.  Moreover,  there  is  no 
fundamental  reason  why  training  for  manual  industry 
should  not  be  educational  in  the  broadest  sense. 

Industrial  Training  also  Cultural.  —  The  old  type  of 
training,  supposed  to  be  to  the  fullest  degree  cultural,  — 
that  obtained  through  the  study  of  the  humanities,  —  had 
for  its  aim  one  of  a  very  small  number  of  definite  gainful 
occupations,  law,  theology,  or  medicine.  True,  they 
were  not  manual  activities,  but  that  does  not  affect  the 
principle.  For  training  for  a  manual  occupation  prop- 
erly conducted  is  mind  training  and  to  be  most  effective 
must  include  a  very  wide  culture.  Manual  dexterity 
is  only  a  minor  result  of  the  best  manual  training,  even 
when  directed  toward  a  specific  occupation.  The  trained 
mind  is  as  necessary  to  the  highest  success  in  wood  work- 
ing or  iron  working  as  in  surgery.  So  industrial  train- 
ing to  be  highly  effective  must  be  chiefly  cultural. 
Indeed,  one  of  the  strongest  arguments  for  the  right 
kind  of  industrial  training,  though  one  frequently 
overlooked,  is  that  it  lifts  the  hand  worker  from  the 

M7 


248  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

plane  of  the  mere  mechanic  to  that  of  the  thinker,  using 
his  trained  mind,  to  get  better  mechanical  results,  it  is 
true,  but  also  able  to  use  it  to  meet  the  broader  de- 
mands of  life.  It  produces  not  merely  better  mechanics, 
but  better  men.  In  a  free  state  the  man  before  the  ma- 
chine is  as  important  as  in  war  the  man  behind  the  gun. 

Distinction  Inevitable.  —  Still  in  our  planning  for 
training  the  motor  acti\aties  in  school,  we  do  necessarily 
make  a  distinction  as  to  the  aim.  There  is  a  marked 
difference  between  what  in  school  parlance  we  call 
"  manual  training  "  and  what  we  call  "  industrial  train- 
ing." 

The  former  aims  definitely  at  broad  general  culture, 
the  hand  work  being  merely  one  of  the  means  employed 
to  that  end,  and  the  relation  of  the  training  to  specific 
gainful  occupations  being  merely  incidental.  Whereas 
in  industrial  training  the  specific  calling  is  definitely 
to  the  fore,  any  cultural  effect  being  the  incident.  In  the 
former,  hand  training  is  to  give  the  pupil  new  modes  of 
self-expression,  to  enlarge  his  acquaintance  with  hfe, 
and  to  develop  those  areas  of  the  brain  that  lie  fallow 
unless  stimulated  into  productivity  through  motor 
activity,  and  thus  to  make  it  easier  for  him  to  know  his 
own  aptitudes.  It  opens  to  him  a  larger  world  of  possible 
work.  In  the  latter  the  aim  is  specifically  to  train  car- 
penters or  blacksmiths  or  cooks  or  what  not. 

Industrial  Training  in  America  Late.  —  In  America 
recognition  of  the  importance  of  industrial  training  in 
schools  arrived  late,  growing  out  of  pressing  industrial 
and  social  conditions,  real  or  imaginary,  such  as  the 
restrictions  placed  upon  apprenticeship  by  the  labor 
unions  so  that  few  native-born  children  can  enter  the 


Industrial  Training  249 

ranks  of  skilled  manual  labor,  and  the  real  or  supposed 
filling  of  the  ranks  of  the  unemployed  with  boys  and  girls 
from  the  schools. 

At  first  such  training  by  the  state  was  regarded  with 
almost  universal  suspicion.  Those  of  us  who  were 
active  in  introducing  manual  traim'ng  into  school 
twenty  years  or  more  ago  were  compelled  to  explain 
very  carefully  that  it  was  not  intended  to  fit  children 
for  trades,  but  that  the  aim  was  purely  educational. 
We  had  to  point  out  over  and  over  again  that  we 
were  merely  giving  the  children  a  broader  culture 
and  to  show  that  they  did  better  in  their  other  studies 
because  of  the  stimulus  received  from  work  at  the  bench. 
Much  was  said  of  the  dormant  brain  areas,  to  be 
awakened  only  through  muscular  activity.  This  was 
especially  necessary  when  we  tried  to  introduce  manual 
training  into  the  grade  schools. 

Sewing  and  Cooking  first  "  Industrial  "  Subjects.  — 
It  was  the  introduction  of  sewing  and  cooking  for  girls 
that  really  paved  the  way  for  industrial  training  as  such. 
Here  it  was  necessary  to  lay  greater  stress  upon  the 
"  practical  "  value  of  the  instruction  given,  —  how  it 
made  better  housekeepers  and  better  homes.  Thus  the 
minds  of  intelligent  people,  including  boards  of  education, 
were  prepared  to  accept  the  practical  arguments  in 
favor  of  teaching  trades  to  boys. 

The  general  value  of  teaching  the  various  manual  arts 
has  perhaps  already  been  sufficiently  stated.  It  now 
remains  to  discuss  industrial  training  specifically.  And 
truly  some  things  need  to  be  said  very  plainly  indeed. 

Danger  of  Extremes.  —  We  are  so  prone  to  rush  to 
extremes.     Sometimes  I  am  tempted  to  think  that  we  are 


250  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

in  danger  of  losing  our  sense  of  proportion,  our  sanity, 
over  this  question  of  industrial  training.  There  are 
those  among  us  who  apparently  would  turn  all  our  schools 
into  shops,  who  would  put  the  hand  before  the  brain  and 
would  sacrifice  all  the  results  of  the  devoted  labors  of 
those  who  have  built  up  our  magnificent  system  of  high 
schools  offering  to  all  boys  and  girls  the  blessing  of  a 
liberal  culture. 

The  Age  of  Choice.  —  One  of  the  chief  dangers  of 
this  extreme  course  is  that  of  forcing  young  boys  and 
girls  into  the  choice  of  their  life  work  long  before  they 
are  competent  to  make  such  choice.  Even  many  college 
graduates  have  not  yet  found  themselves  and  are  un- 
certain as  to  what  work  they  should  choose.  We  can 
all  recall  the  various  stages  that  we  passed  through  be- 
fore arriving  at  our  destination,  and  some  of  us  doubt- 
less are  not  now  sure  that  that  destination  is  the  proper 
one. 

Compelling  children  in  the  grammer  school  to  make 
such  choices  is  sure  to  increase  the  number  of  square 
pegs  in  round  holes.  It  is  not  a  variation  of  broad 
manual  training,  it  is  its  antipode.  Instead  of  helping 
the  young  to  a  knowledge  of  their  aptitudes  it  closes 
the  door  of  such  opportunity  to  them. 

Of  course  these  extreme  views  are  not  held  by  the 
better  thinkers,  the  real  leaders  of  the  movement ;  but 
there  is  enough  of  such  talk  abroad,  some  of  it  uttered 
by  those  high  ih  educational  authority,  to  demand 
caution  and  clear  statement  of  purpose.  No  one  must 
be  allowed  to  think  that  the  leaders  of  educational 
thought  desire  to  substitute  farm  schools,  or  cooking 
schools,  or  millinery  schools,  or  shops  of  any  sort,  for 


Industrial  Training  ±$l 

high  schools  and  colleges,  even  those  of  the  most  purely 
intellectual  and  scholarly  type. 

Danger  to  Democracy.  —  Above  all,  no  one  must  be- 
lieve that  we  aim  to  drive  into  private  schools  the  children 
of  the  well-to-do  or  those  who  desire  "  book  learning," 
leaving  the  public  school  for  those  who  must  learn  trades. 
To  do  this  would  create  those  permanent  class  dis- 
tinctions that  would  spell  the  death  of  democracy. 
And  this  is  undoubtedly  the  goal  to  which  some  of  the 
extreme  advocates  of  industrial  education  would  drive 
us. 

Arguments  not  wholly  Convincing.  —  Frankly,  it  must 
be  said  that  the  most  urgent  advocates  of  extensive  in- 
dustrial training  as  a  coordinate  branch  of  the  common 
school  curriculum  have  not  made  out  as  yet  a  completely 
convincing  case.  The  assumptions  are  stronger  than  the 
proof.  Indeed,  thus  far  the  plea  rests  almost  wholly 
upon  assumption.  The  latest  official  report  upon  the 
subject  is  a  very  able,  careful,  and  on  the  whole  con- 
servative, document.  I  refer  to  the  report  for  the  year 
1908  of  the  New  York  Department  of  Labor,  prepared 
by  Director  Charles  H.  Richards,  of  Cooper  Union. 
This  shows  that  in  a  very  large  minority  of  the  industries 
studied,  there  is  difficulty  in  obtaining  skilled  labor,  and 
that  in  the  opinions  of  many,  still  a  minority,  courses  of 
industrial  training  would  help  to  remove  this  difficulty. 
This  does  not  seem  to  be  a  very  strong  argument  for 
making  such  courses  a  coordinate  part  of  the  work  of  the 
common  schools,  especially  in  \dew  of  other  considera- 
tions naturally  not  included  in  the  reports,  but  essential 
to  a  solution  of  the  problem. 

A  recent  national   convention  on  industrial  training 


252  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

was  practically  a  manufacturers'  convention.  With  very 
slight  exceptions  the  sole  question  discussed  was  the 
supply  of  skilled  labor  to  the  factories  and  shops.  The 
question  of  the  education  of  youth  seemed  scarcely  to 
have  occurred  to  the  speakers. 

The  truths  that  there  are  more  important  things 
in  life  than  skill  in  handicraft,  that  a  skilled  workman 
is  not  necessarily  a  good  citizen,  that  the  broadening 
and  enriching  of  the  mind  is  in  itself  so  to  be  desired 
that  ofl&cial  interference  with  it  in  the  interest  of 
mere  manual  efficiency  would  be  deplorable,  seem 
to  have  been  overlooked.  The  speakers  seemed  to 
have  considered  but  one  side  of  the  question.  It  is  in- 
teresting that  the  chief  advocate  of  liberal  training  for 
the  pupils  of  the  schools  as  contrasted  with  teaching 
trades  was  the  representative  of  organized  labor.  He 
and  those  he  represents  are  justly  afraid  of  the  enslaving 
effect  of  pushing  children  into  trade  guilds  early,  thus 
fixing  permanently  their  social  status. 

All  this  means  that  there  are  two  sides  to  the  question. 
The  efficiency  to  be  obtained  through  careful  training 
in  one's  chosen  occupation  is  of  course  desirable.  But 
to  press  this  so  far  as  to  sacrifice  breadth  of  mind  and 
general  intelligence  would  be  disastrous.  The  man  must 
always  be  larger  than  the  workman.  Some  of  the  ques- 
tions yet  to  be  answered  are  the  following : 

How  great,  really,  is  the  need  of  skilled  labor  beyond 
the  present  supply?  Are  the  ranks  of  unskilled  labor 
filled  to  any  considerable  degree  with  American  boys  and 
girls  who  would  be  in  the  ranks  of  the  skilled  if  the  com- 
mon schools  taught  trades?  Are  clerical  positions  and 
those  of  salesmen  and  others,  requiring  sense  and  in- 


Industrial  Training  253 

telligence  but  not  manual  skill,  overcrowded  with  boys 
and  girls  who  would  be  better  off  as  skilled  manual 
laborers  ? 

Is  it  possible  to  introduce  trades  into  our  schools  with- 
out sacrificing  other  subjects?  If  not,  what  must  go? 
Can  it  be  shown  that,  in  the  long  run,  considering  the 
pupils  as  future  men  and  women  and  citizens,  the  stu- 
dents will  be  compensated  for  the  loss  of  these  studies 
by  the  knowledge  of  a  trade  ?  Just  what  is  the  place  of 
the  trade  school  in  our  system,  as  to  the  age  of  pupils,  the 
length  of  the  course,  and  the  character  of  the  instruc- 
tion ?  What  trades  and  how  many  should  be  offered  ? 
What  is  to  be  done  for  the  girls? 

I  cannot  of  course  assume  to  answer  these  questions. 
I  am  a  mere  layman,  a  somewhat  old-fashioned  teacher. 
But  I  shall  venture  a  few  suggestions. 

The  Proper  Place.  —  What,  then,  is  the  proper  place 
of  industrial  training  in  our  public  school  system?  At 
most  it  is  that  of  an  adjunct.  Not  one  iota  of  the  study 
of  literature  or  history,  or  the  fine  arts,  or  any  other 
purely  cultural  subject,  must  be  sacrificed  for  it.  To  a 
certain  extent  it  may  be  correlated  with  these  studies, 
furnishing  new  activities,  illustrations,  and  means  of  self- 
expression.  Thus  used,  it  may  give  point  and  direction 
to  studies  which  before  were  somewhat  vague  and  point- 
less. This  is  manifestly  true  of  manual  training.  It  is 
also  true  of  nature  study,  mathematics,  and  history, 
and  to  a  considerable  degree  of  language  study. 

Suppose  a  boy  is  looking  forward  to  the  carpenter's 
trade;  it  is  evident  at  once  that  his  manual  training  ex- 
ercises acquire  a  new  meaning,  his  work  with  tools  has 
a  new  and  very  potent  motive.     His  nature  study  also, 


254  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

while  being  no  less  cultural,  acquires  a  new  interest. 
The  more  he  can  learn  about  the  woods  and  metals  that 
enter  into  the  work  of  a  carpenter,  the  better  his  equip- 
ment for  his  future  trade.  Even  his  history,  if  properly 
studied  as  to  its  industrial  phases,  throws  light  both  upon 
his  work,  and,  especially,  upon  the  social  and  economic 
life  of  the  carpenter.  Then,  abundant  material  for 
language  expression  is  to  be  found  in  descriptions  of  the 
tools  and  materials  used  by  the  carpenter,  in  exact  ac- 
counts of  processes,  and  in  descriptions  of  articles  made. 
This  is  incidental  indeed,  but  it  shows  how  the  study  of 
a  trade  may  be  given  a  cultural  value. 

But  it  cannot  be  repeated  too  often  that  the  trade 
school  proper  must  be  an  adjunct  to  the  public  school 
for  general  education,  not  a  substitute  for  it  or  for  any 
part  of  it.  If  trades  are  to  be  taught  to  pupils  still  in 
the  common  schools,  it  must  be  in  additional  classes,  in 
the  evenings,  on  Saturdays,  or  during  the  long  vacations. 

Continuation  School.  —  But  the  ideal  trade  school  is 
the  "  continuation  school  "  for  boys  and  girls  who  have 
fulfilled  the  legal  requirements  as  to  school  attendance, 
and  desire  or  are  compelled  to  learn  a  trade.  Such 
schools  should  be  of  two  sorts ;  those  employing  the  full 
time  of  the  students  who  are  able  to  postpone  gainful 
work  until  they  have  first  learned  their  chosen  trades, 
and  schools  employing  a  part  of  the  time  of  those  already 
working  for  wages  in  shops. 

The  Full  Time  Schools.  —  The  former  require  only 
the  action  of  boards  of  education.  They  should, 
however,  be  not  merely  schools  for  teaching  the  details 
of  trade,  but  should  be  as  broadly  cultural  as  possible. 
The  cultural  studies  should  be  chosen  because  of  their 


Industrial  Training  255 

manifest  relations  to  the  trade  taught,  and  should  be 
grouped  around  it  as  a  center.  They  should  shed  all 
possible  light  upon  its  higher  phases,  and  especially 
upon  its  social  bearings;  for  example,  nature  study 
should  be  the  study  of  those  natural  objects  that  enter 
directly  or  indirectly  into  the  work  of  the  craft,  —  their 
qualities,  origin,  production,  and  uses.  The  history 
should  be  largely  cenlgred  aWut  industrial  and  economic 
conditions. 

The  study  of  these  subjects  differs  from  the  study  of 
the  same  subjects  for  their  cultural  value  in  that  it  is 
the  incident,  while  the  trade  itself  is  the  ever  evident 
aim.  But  it  is  none  the  less  important  and  valuable. 
The  pupils  themselves  should  be  led  to  see  that  such 
study  will  insure  them  higher  success  in  their  chosen 
work,  that  it  will  give  them  a  wider  outlook  upon  the 
conditions  essential  to  the  highest  attainments,  that  it 
will  make  them  more  intelhgent,  larger,  and  wiser  men 
and  women,  and  hence  better  and  more  efl&cient  carpen- 
ters, or  blacksmiths,  or  cooks,  or  milliners. 

The  range  of  activities  of  a  trade  school  should  be  as 
wide  as  possible.  As  many  trades  should  be  taught 
as  can  be  taught  effectively.  Otherwise  there  will  be 
danger  of  unhappy  economic  disturbances  due  to  the 
overcrowding  of  certain  fields  of  work.  The  tendency 
seems  to  be  to  limit  the  work  offered  to  a  few  trades. 
This  will  have  to  be  corrected,  or  we  shall  have  a  large 
army  of  the  unemployed  in  certain  Knes,  and  a  consequent 
shortage  in  others. 

Avoid  the  Guild  Notion.  —  But  above  all,  every  effort 
must  be  put  forth  to  avoid  the  guild  notion,  for  there  is 
very  real  danger  that  trade  schools,  if  generally  organized 


256  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

and  largely  attended,  will  have  a  tendency  to  increase  the 
social  differences  of  our  citizens,  and  to  fix  them,  produc- 
ing permanent  classes  and  castes. 

One  remedy  for  this  is  to  intensify  the  cultural  work 
of  the  trade  schools.  The  larger  the  man  or  woman,  the 
broader  the  outlook,  the  wider  the  sweep  of  purely  in- 
tellectual attainments  among  manual  workers,  the  less 
the  danger  of  caste  and  social  fixity.  The  great  safe- 
guard of  a  democracy  is  the  social  fluidity  of  its  citizen- 
ship. The  easy  transition  from  one  phase  of  life  to 
another,  the  widest  variation  of  occupation  among  mem- 
bers of  the  same  families,  particularly  the  choice  of  work 
by  the  children  different  from  that  pursued  by  the  parent, 
save  a  nation  from  the  prejudices  which  are  the  basis 
of  all  caste  and  class  distinctions.  This  the  demo- 
cratic trade  school  must  accentuate  and  develop  to  the 
fullest  degree  possible. 

In  this  respect  the  problem  before  America  is  quite 
different  from  that  in  most  European  countries.  Hence 
we  must  be  careful  in  borrowing  ideas  from  Germany, 
for  example,  where  not  only  are  permanent  class  dis- 
tinctions prevalent,  but  where  they  are  considered  desir- 
able by  the  ruling  powers,  and  where  their  perpetuation 
is  a  distinct  aim  in  public  education. 

Another  caution  that  we  must  keep  in  mind  is  to  avoid 
such  training  as  will  permanently  limit  the  pupils'  powers 
of  expansion.  They  must  be  saved  from  the  narrowing 
effect  of  doing  one  small  thing  day  after  day. 

In  this  respect  the  trade  school  should  have  a  distinct 
advantage  over  the  apprentice  system  of  learning  trades. 
For  the  good  trade  schools  teach  all  phases  of  a  trade, 
and  not  merely  a  single  one,  while  the  tendency  of  the 


Industrial  Training  257 

employer  is  to  keep  the  employee  engaged  upon  a  single 
operation  easily  learned.  This  makes  men  small,  though 
perhaps  very  expert  in  the  narrow  range  of  activity  open 
o  them. 

The  Part  Time  School. — But  not  all  boys  and  girls 
who  are  ready  to  choose  a  trade  can  stay  in  school  long 
enough  to  learn  one.  Economic  conditions  compel 
them  to  go  to  work  to  earn  money.  Are  these  un- 
fortunates to  be  compelled  to  forego  all  training  for 
their  chosen  work  except  the  narrow  round  of  a  single 
y  movement  given  in  the  shop  by  the  employer  eager  to 
turn  the  young  brain  and  hand  into  ready  money  ? 

For  these  youths  special  schools  should  be  provided, 
giving  them,  for  an  hour  or  more  a  day,  high-grade 
broad  technical  instruction  in  their  chosen  crafts,  and 
these  should  be  daylight  schools,  not  evening  schools, 
and  employers  of  boys  and  girls  of  limited  education 
should  be  compelled  not  only  to  grant  the  necessary 
time,  but  to  see  to  it  that  their  employees  of  suitable 
age  go  to  these  schools. 

Some  of  the  more  enlightened  manufacturers  of  the 
country  maintain  such  schools  at  their  own  expense, 
notably  the  General  Electric  Company,  under  the 
now  famous  leadership  of  Mr.  Alexander  at  Lynn,  Mass. 
They  find  that  the  gain  in  power,  in  better  compre- 
hension of  the  principles  underlying  the  craft,  and  hence 
the  better  work  done,  more  than  compensate  for  the 
cost  of  the  school. 

But  this  is  properly  the  work  of  the  public,  quite  as 
much  as  maintaining  schools  for  the  more  fortunate 
youth  who  can  give  their  entire  time  to  education. 
Moreover,  the  single  hour  a  day  would  do  wonders, 


258  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

because  every  problem  would  have  a  meaning,  and  its 
solution  would  be  applied  immediately  to  the  work  of 
the  shop.  Besides,  it  would  affect  the  social  Hfe  of  the 
pupils  only  for  the  better.  As  they  would  have  made 
their  choice  of  work  already,  the  schools  would  qualify 
them  for  the  higher  ranks  in  this  work. 

Training  Farmers.  —  There  is  one  phase  of  industrial 
training  that  is  receiving  much  attention  at  the  present 
time,  which  needs  special  consideration ;  that  is  train- 
ing for  farming.  The  importance  of  such  training 
cannot  be  questioned.  It  has  two  motives,  —  to  keep 
the  boys  and  girls  on  the  farms,  and  to  secure  better 
farming  than  is  commonly  found  in  this  country.  It  is 
hoped,  by  shomng  the  independence  and  the  many  other 
advantages  of  country  life,  to  stem  the  tide  of  country 
youth  toward  the  cities,  and  also  to  educate  those  who 
are  to  be  farmers  to  a  more  scientific  and  profitable 
cultivation  of  the  land. 

To  this  end,  in  many  states,  instruction  in  the  rural 
schools  in  the  principles  of  agriculture  is  required  by 
law.  Also  in  some  states  township  and  county  farm 
schools  have  been  estabhshed,  and  elaborate  colleges  for 
teaching  scientific  farming  have  been  appended  to  the 
state  universities  or  created  into  separate  institutions. 

Rural  Schools.  —  The  farm  schools  and  the  agri- 
cultural colleges  are  undoubtedly  admirable  in  purpose, 
and  very  useful.  Teaching  farming  in  the  country  dis- 
trict schools  is  of  more  doubtful  value.  The  teachers 
in  most  of  these  schools  are  very  young  women.  It  is 
to  be  feared  that  the  instruction  given  by  them  to 
farmer  boys,  even  with  the  aid  of  good  textbooks,  will 
be  either  grotesque  or   humorous. 


Industrial  Training  259 

Proper  Limitations.  —  Might  it  not  be  better  to  con- 
fine the  work  in  the  common  rural  schools  to  reading 
matter  showing  the  charms  of  rural  life,  and  the  com- 
parative independence  of  the  farmer,  and  to  nature  study 
bearing  especially  upon  farming,  perhaps  utilizing  the 
school  gardens,  and  by  these  means  to  persuade  the  boys 
and  girls  to  attend  agricultural  schools  ?  Is  it  not  as  true 
of  training  for  farming  as  for  the  other  industries  that 
the  trade  school  should  be  a  continuation  school,  and  that 
the  elementary  school  should  be  devoted  to  giving  a 
general  education,  with  only  such  incidental  reference 
to  industries  as  will  tend  to  create  taste  and  enable  the 
pupils  to  discover  their  aptitudes  ? 

Industrial  training  seems  destined  to  become  a  part 
of  our  public  educational  system.  On  the  whole,  it  is 
to  be  regarded  as  desirable,  but  like  all  innovations  it  is 
in  danger  from  its  friends,  and  needs  caution  and  wisdom 
to  keep  it  in  its  proper  place. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

The  Fine  Arts 

SINGING 

Are  not  the  fine  arts  too  fine  for  the  common  schools  ? 
Do  they  not  belong  to  that  army  of  fads  that  have  been 
so  vigorously  and  wittily  and  frequently  denounced  as 
corrupting  our  youth,  turning  the  course  of  education 
into  useless  channels  where  it  can  turn  no  mill  wheels 
of  arithmetic  or  grammar? 

Value  of  Fads.  —  Yes,  truly  they  are  fads;  to  the 
"practical  "  materialist,  anathema,  to  all  the  Gradgrinds, 
maranatha.  But  how  about  the  boy  and  girl  who  are 
to  be  the  dominating  forces  in  the  free  nation  of  the 
morrow?  One  is  almost  tempted  to  paraphrase  and 
say,  "  Let  me  teach  the  fads  to  the  rising  generation 
and  I  care  not  who  teaches  them  the  'essentials.'" 

Let  us  remember  that  boys  and  girls  in  school  are  just 
people,  not  unlike  those  out  of  school.  "  If  you  prick 
us,  do  we  not  bleed?  "  They  stand  in  the  same  need  of 
ideals,  of  cultivated  feelings,  of  illumination  and  in- 
spiration, as  their  elders ;  and  more,  for  they  are  more 
sensitive  to  influences,  more  easily  turned  toward  ma- 
teriahsm  or  idealism. 

The  fine  arts  are  among  the  chief  means  of  combating 
the  much-preached-against  tendency  to  low  material 
aims.    They  are  the  principal  reliance  of  the  wise  teacher 

260 


The  Fine  Arts  26 1 

in  training  the  feelings,  cultivating  that  neglected  area 
of  the  mind. 

The  feelings  are  the  key  to  character,  furnishing  the 
solvent  for  the  hard  intellectuality  of  mere  learning,  and 
supplying  the  motive  to  the  will.  "  Keep  thine  heart 
(feeling)  with  all  diligence,  for  out  of  it  are  the  issues  of 
life." 

If  good  character,  showing  itself  in  self-control  for 
good  ends  and  in  a  wise  altruism,  is  the  chief  end  of 
education,  the  feelings  must  be  trained.  Knowledge  of 
good  and  e\dl  is  not  enough.  Adam  and  Eve  acquired 
that  through  sinning  —  a  marvelous  parable.  It  is 
necessary  to  add  to  knowledge  taste,  a  love  for  the  good, 
the  true,  and  the  beautifuF.  No  effort  is  wasted  that 
brings  into  the  lives  of  boys  and  girls  a  desire  to  taste 
the  joys  that  come  from  the  appreciative  contemplation 
of  this  trinity  of  emotional  appeal.  Therefore  let  us 
have  in  the  schools  all  the  fads  that  may  Hft  the  eyes 
of  the  children  "  to  the  hills  from  whence  cometh  our 
help,"  even  if  arithmetic  and  formal  grammar  must  move 
up  a  bit  to  make  room  for  them. 

Functions  of  Fine  Arts.  —  The  function  of  the  fine 
arts  in  school  is  to  open  the  minds  of  children  to  the 
higher  meanings  of  hfe,  to  spread  before  them  a  feast 
of  beauty  and  of  joy  that  will  keep  their  senses  from 
noting  with  pleasure  the  vulgar,  the  coarse,  the  selfish, 
the  evil  of  any  sort,  and  will  stimulate  them  to  strive 
for  attainment  in  the  world  of  worthy  ideals. 

The  fine  arts  that  have  found  a  place  in  our  schools 
are  literature,  music,  drawing,  and  painting ;  to  a  very 
limited  degree,  modeling  and  the  finer  aspects  of  the 
constructive    crafts.     Happily  they  have  gained   such 


262  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

a  foothold  that  we  may  safely  assert  that  they  have 
come  to  stay.  Of  these  arts  the  one  which,  with  the 
possible  exception  of  Hterature,  makes  the  widest  ap- 
peal, is  music.  It  would  be  supererogatory  to  descant 
on  the  influence  of  music  in  general.  But  its  function 
in  school  and  how  that  is  to  be  fulfilled  need  discussion. 

Two  Aspects.  —  The  two  aspects  of  music  that  belong 
to  education  are  producing  music  and  appreciating 
music  produced  by  others.  Thus  far  in  schools  we 
have  limited  our  efforts  almost  wholly  to  the  former. 
We  have  undertaken  to  teach  children  to  sing,  it  must 
be  confessed  with  somewhat  meager  success.  What  may 
be  accomplished  in  the  other  phase  of  music  remains  to 
be  seen. 

School  not  a  Studio.  —  The  very  modest  success  of 
our  efforts  to  teach  cliildren  in  school  to  sing  must  be 
attributed  mainly  to  faulty  method,  itself  due  to  a 
failure  to  grasp  the  difference  between  the  schoolroom 
and  the  studio.  Until  quite  recently  the  methods  were 
wholly  those  of  the  music  studio,  and  these  methods 
still  prevail  to  a  very  large  extent. 

In  the  studio  a  specially  trained  teacher  of  music 
teaches  specially  gifted  pupils  an  art  in  which  they  al- 
ready have  particular  interest.  These  pupils  are  willing 
to  undergo  the  drudgery  of  thorough  training  in  the  ele- 
ments of  musical  science,  for  ability  to  sing  well  is  already 
a  desideratum  to  them.  Presumably  they  are  already 
musical.  They  know  something  of  music  and  they  love 
it.  Moreover,  here,  teaching  music  is  the  one  aim,  un- 
embarrassed by  other  claims  upon  the  time  and  attention. 
Even  if  there  is  any  lack  of  interest  on  the  part  of  the 
pupils,  the  zeal  of  the  teacher  and  his  cultivated  skill 


The  Fine  Arts  263 

n  teaching  this  particular  art,  to  a  very  considerable 
iegree,  atone  for  this  lack. 

In  the  school  the  conditions  are  quite  different.  The 
;eachers  for  the  most  part  are  untrained  in  this  art,  and 
ew  of  them  are  in  any  true  sense  musical.  They  are 
;ompelled  merely  to  follow  the  instruction  of  the  super- 
dsor,  or  the  course  of  study,  without  much  interest,  and 
requently  without  skill.  Many  of  them  are  much  more 
nterested  in  arithmetic  or  grammar  than  in  music. 

The  children  too  are  of  all  sorts,  children  with  no  in- 
:erest  in  music,  those  with  a  little  interest,  and  those 
vith  great  interest,  all  in  one  class  to  be  taught  together, 
rhey  do  not  come  to  school  to  study  music  chiefly,  or 
;ven  as  a  very  important  matter.  They  would  find  no 
ault  if  not  taught  it  at  all.  Some  have  considerable 
nusical  ability,  some  little,  some  are  monotones.  Under 
;hese  conditions,  De  Retzke  with  Farrar  as  a  pupil  will 
lot  serve  as  a  model.  The  approach  must  be  psycho- 
ogical,  rather  than  scientific.  The  limitations  of  the 
:eacher,  of  the  pupils,  and  of  the  curriculum,  all  re- 
quire this. 

Wherein  have  the  prevailing  methods  been  faulty? 
[n  two  respects  in  particular,  and  these  relate  to  the  two 
especial  aims  in  the  teaching  of  music  in  school. 

Appeal  to  .Esthetic  Nature.  —  In  order  to  realize 
through  the  teaching  of  singing  the  higher  ends  of 
education  to  which  they  are  supposed  to  contribute,  it 
IS  necessary,  through  a  wholesome  cultivation  of  the 
Feelings,  that  children  should  come  to  love  singing, 
to  love  music,  and  to  know  and  love  good  music.  The 
appeal  should  be  made  from  the  very  first  to  the 
aesthetic  nature.     Hence  the  beginning  should  be  song, 


264  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

real  song,  such  as  the  children  can  appreciate,  but  not 
vulgar  or  commonplace.  The  rhythm,  the  melody,  the 
lilt,  the  echo  of  the  heart  beat,  which  are  the  physical 
basis  of  both  poetry  and  music,  should  be  strongly  present 
in  the  first  musical  instruction,  and  they  should  never 
disappear.  The  mechanics  of  music,  its  scientific  struc- 
ture, should  be  kept  in  the  background  and  should  be 
brought  forward  only  when  the  children  are  ready  for 
it  as  explanation  of  that  which  already  has  given  them 
pleasure  and  as  a  means  to  fuller  joy  in  singing. 

The  familiar  method  of  teaching  singing  to  children 
by  beginning  with  the  scale  is  comparable  to  teaching 
reading  by  beginning  with  the  alphabet  or  teaching  draw- 
ing by  beginning  with  a  study  of  type  forms,  the  sphere, 
the  cube,  and  the  cyhnder,  methods  which  all  the  older 
teachers  will  readily  recall.  To  a  degree  they  are  all 
logical.  They  start  with  principles,  and  what  method 
of  teaching  a  principle  is  so  simple  as  to  state  it  "in 
good  set  terms  "  ?  But  they  are  to  even  a  greater  degree 
unpsychological.  They  ignore  the  interest  of  the 
learner.  They  forget  that  children  learn  by  contact 
with  things,  embodied  principles,  first,  and  later  may 
come  to  understand  and  even  to  state  the  principles. 

Begin  with  Songs.  —  Hence  teaching  singing  in 
schools  must  begin  with  singing,  singing  real  songs, 
enjoyable  to  the  children  in  both  sense  and  rhythm, 
appealing  even  to  the  unmusical  children.  It  must 
first  be  rote  singing,  singing  "  by  ear,"  until  the  songs 
are  learned.  Gradually  a  study  of  principles  and  even 
of  technic  may  be  introduced,  after  the  children  have 
been  made  ready  by  much  enjoyable  singing. 

It  is  not  the  aim  of  this  discussion  to  treat  of  method 


The  Fine  Arts  265 

in  detail,  but  to  indicate  the  principles  on  which  all  method 
must  be  based,  if  children  are  really  to  learn  to  sing. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  teaching  singing  in  school 
is  not  merely  or  chiefly  to  give  children  a  knowledge  of 
the  principles  of  the  art.  It  is  rather  to  introduce  into 
the  school  life,  and  thence  into  the  after  life,  a  new  element 
of  joy.  This  involves  cultivating  not  only  a  love  for 
music,  but  a  love  for  good  music,  appreciation,  musical 
taste.  This  is  the  principal  reason  why  the  music  used 
in  instruction  should  be  good  music.  Mere  exercises, 
musical  phrases  composed  to  illustrate  some  principle  of 
technic,  will  not  do. 

It  is  as  great  a  sin  to  keep  children,  in  the  earlier  period 
of  learning  to  sing,  drilling  on  meaningless  mechanical 
phrases  and  scales,  as  it  is  to  make  the  early  reading  les- 
sons of  meaningless  combinations  of  letters  or  of  words. 
The  "do  re  me  do  "  first  lessons  in  singing  are  on  the 
same  plane  with  the  "  See  the  ox  go  up  "  first  lessons  in 
reading,  or  those  even  worse,  in  which  sounds  are  put 
before  sense. 

In  the  one,  as  in  the  other,  the  emphasis  should  be 
upon  the  content  from  the  very  start.  The  cultivation 
of  taste  should  move  with  equal  step  with  learning  the 
principles  of  the  art.  The  earliest  music  used  should 
appeal  to  the  feelings,  both  for  the  Joy  it  yields  in  the 
present,  and  for  the  fuller  joy  it  may  be  expected  to 
yield  with  growing  taste.  Music  enriches  chiefly  the 
aesthetic  side  of  life.  Hence  to  the  aesthetic  nature  it 
should  appeal  during  the  process  of  learning. 

Moreover,  the  pupil  should  learn  through  his  music 
lesson  to  appreciate  the  music  of  others.  But  this  will 
be  treated  in  a  later  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XXV 
The  Plastic  and  Graphic  Arts 

The  same  principles  that  apply  to  singing  apply  with 
equal  force  to  drawing  and  painting  and  modeling. 
There  are  the  same  hmitations  of  environment,  of  un- 
trained or  meagerly  trained  teachers,  of  pupils  without 
previous  preparation,  without  taste,  without  desire. 

As  with  singing,  the  methods  must  be  adapted  to  these 
conditions.  The  first  efforts  must  be  to  represent  truth- 
fully real  things  which  the  children  desire  to  represent. 
They  must  see  from  the  first  that  they  are  getting  posses- 
sion of  a  new  language,  through  which  they  may  express 
the  results  of  their  observations  and  their  feeHngs. 

Create  Appreciation.  —  Furthermore  the  lessons  in 
drawing  and  painting  and  modeHng  must  open  their 
eyes  to  the  meanings  and  the  beauties  of  what  others 
have  done  with  these  arts.  The  child  who  has  not 
learned  through  his  drawing  lessons  to  enjoy  the  fine 
drawing  of  a  great  artist  has  missed  one  of  the  chief 
possible  values  of  his  lesson. 

To  this  end  good  models  of  drawings  of  subjects 
similar  to  those  he  is  to  draw  should  be  presented  to 
the  children.  I  am  aware  that  this  is  heretical.  We 
are  told  continually  that  the  child  must  see  for  himself. 
Of  course  he  must.  But  he  must  learn  to  see  with  the 
eyes  of  the  artist,  to  distinguish  the  essential  from  the 

266 


The  Plastic  and  Graphic  Arts  267 

unessential,  and  in  particular  to  see  the  beauty  of  what 
he  is  trying  to  represent.  Studying  the  work  of  a  real 
artist  will  open  the  eyes  of  the  student  so  that  he  can 
see  more  for  himself. 

Value  of  Copying.  —  There  is  much  to  be  said  for  the 
old  custom  of  requiring  students  of  drawing  and  paint- 
ing to  copy  the  works  of  masters.  I  am  aware  that  a 
suggestion  of  copying  in  school  would  meet  with  ex- 
treme disfavor  in  the  eyes  of  drawing  teachers  and 
supervisors.  Still  I  am  rash  enough  to  suggest  it  as 
a  very  valuable  exercise.  The  great  masters  of  English 
have  generally  acquired  facility  and  style  through  copy- 
ing the  styles  of  admired  masters.  Stevenson,  for  exam- 
ple, confesses  himself  a  copyist  in  his  earlier  attempts, 
changing  his  master  repeatedly.  The  great  painters 
have  all  either  begun  in  that  way  or  have  supple- 
mented their  earlier  attempts  at  self-expression  by  sed- 
ulous copying.  How  else  is  a  style  to  be  acquired? 
A  student  who  carefully  copies  the  works  of  a  master 
learns  to  see  as  the  master  saw,  and  thus  has  his  eyes 
opened  to  beauties  before  concealed.  I  am  convinced 
that  it  would  be  an  excellent  exercise  to  introduce  into 
the  elementary  drawing  lessons  as  well  as  into  those 
more  advanced. 

Copying  Not  All.  —  Of  course,  this  is  by  no  means 
the  whole  story.  Constant  copying  would  weaken  origi- 
nality. The  pupil  must  learn  to  see  with  his  own  eyes 
the  beauties  of  what  he  is  to  draw,  and  to  select  the 
salient  features  and  group  his  objects  so  as  to  bring  out 
these  features.  Therefore,  after  the  close  study,  line 
by  line,  of  some  master's  drawing  or  painting,  such  as 
is  required  for  copying,  he  should  attempt  to  draw  simi- 


268  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

lar  objects  and  groups  of  objects,  using  what  he  has 
learned  in  his  copying. 

Drawing  a  Language.  —  The  drawing  lesson  has  an- 
other function  also.  It  should  not  only  feed  the  aesthetic 
nature  of  the  child,  but  it  also  should  give  him  a  new 
language,  a  fresh  medium  through  which  he  may  express 
his  thoughts.  This  he  will  acquire  mainly  through  use, 
but  also  through  studying  the  successful  attempts  of 
others  to  express  their  thoughts. 

The  young  child  begins  crudely  to  represent  what  he 
sees,  and  these  crude  drawings  are  often  very  interesting. 
But  the  interest  is  mainly  psychological  rather  than  ar- 
tistic. Through  these  untutored  efforts  we  get  insight 
into  the  workings  of  a  child's  mind.  But  if  this  kind  of 
drawing  is  continued  too  long,  there  results  retardation 
and  a  clogging  of  the  mental  machinery,  —  arrested  de- 
velopment,— and  here  is  where  the  child's  drawing  often 
breaks  down.  His  work  in  the  intermediate  grades  loses 
the  freedom  that  it  had  in  the  primary  school.  He  be- 
comes self-conscious,  ashamed  of  the  crudity  of  his  efforts, 
and,  lacking  the  help  that  an  elementary  knowledge  of 
technic  would  give  him,  loses  his  interest  in  drawing. 
Correct  graphic  expression  can  no  more  be  evolved  from 
his  inner  consciousness  than  correct  language  or  music. 
Before  he  can  use  the  art  effectively,  he  must  know  some- 
thing of  its  laws.  These  he  should  be  led  to  discover  in 
the  work  of  one  who  has  obeyed  them.  In  other  words, 
freedom  may  be  carried  so  far  as  to  destroy  itself.  There 
is  first  the  freedom  of  infancy,  untrammeled  by  any 
limitations  except  those  of  the  child's  own  power.  But 
very  soon  this  must  be  succeeded  by  the  freedom  of  law, 
the  conscious  power  of  one  who  knows  how. 


The  Plastic  and  Graphic  Arts  269 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  great  aim  of  teaching 
any  of  the  fine  arts  is  to  develop  power  to  see  and  to 
reproduce  beauty,  and  to  this  end  it  is  necessary  to 
understand,  to  a  limited  extent  at  least,  the  laws  of 
beauty. 

Too  much  of  the  drawing  in  schools  is  barren  and  me- 
chanical, resulting  either  in  a  vain  self-satisfaction  or 
in  a  lack  of  interest. 

Begin  with  Pictures. —  The  principles  suggested  for 
the  teaching  of  music  apply  with  equal  force  to  drawing. 
As  the  former  should  begin  with  music,  so  this  should 
begin  with  pictures,  many  pictures,  good  pictures.  Nat- 
urally these  pictures  should  be  of  a  sort  interesting  to 
children.  If  possible  they  should  be  in  color.  It  is 
much  more  important  to  have  in  a  primary  school  a 
stock  of  good  pictures  than  a  set  of  drawing  books  or 
of  type-form  models.  Photographs,  copies  in  black  and 
white  and  in  sepia  tints,  and  reproductions  well  done  in 
color,  are  easily  obtained  and  inexpensive.  Among 
the  best  of  the  various  classes  of  pictures  available 
for  schoolroom  use  are  the  large  colored  posters  now 
offered  by  all  school  art  dealers. 

Must  fit  Children.  —  It  is  most  important  that  the 
pictures  used  be  of  subjects  adapted  to  children.  Much 
good  art,  especially  classic  art,  fails  to  excite  interest 
in  children.  Well-meaning  committees  often  err  in  this 
regard.  Even  classical  madonnas  generally  do  not  ap- 
peal to  children.  Pictures  of  animals,  of  other  children, 
of  domestic  scenes,  preferably  modern,  are  the  most 
suitable  for  use  in  primary  schools.  Large  pictures 
with  only  a  few  details  are  the  best.  These  should  be 
changed  from  time  to  time  and  should  be  studied,  that 


270  What  Children  Study  and  Why- 

is,  carefully  observed,  and  the  interesting  features  and 
such  of  the  points  of  beauty  as  children  can  appreciate 
should  be  talked  about.  All  this  is  preparing  for  the 
more  technical  study  later.  It  is  creating  taste.  It  is 
the  natural  way  of  approaching  the  subject. 

Much  Drawing.  —  Along  with  this,  of  course,  should 
be  much  drawing  and  painting  by  the  children.  At  first 
this  will  be  necessarily  of  the  crude,  psychological  sort. 
But  quite  early  a  few  principles  may  be  taught  by  ob- 
servation. Color  work  is  best,  —  at  first,  —  with  large, 
generous  effects,  concealing  the  unsteadiness  of  httle 
hands,  and  requiring  chiefly  arm  movements.  The  sky 
line  and  a  little  of  perspective  may  be  easily  taught. 

The  children's  observations,  at  first  undirected,  be- 
come gradually  more  definite.  Their  reproductions  grow 
accurate,  truthful,  and  artistic  through  a  gradual  ac- 
quaintance with  some  of  the  essential  laws  of  the  art, 
obtained  by  studying  pictures  with  constantly  increas- 
ing closeness,  and  by  drawing  and  painting  what  they 
themselves  see. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

The  Development  of  Taste 

How  is  it  possible  in  the  ordinary  public  school  to 
inculcate  taste  in  the  fine  arts?  As  to  literature,  the 
question  is  a  simple  one,  and  has  been  sufficiently  an- 
swered in  the  chapters  on  Reading  and  Nature  Study. 
But  how  is  it  with  music  and  the  graphic  and  plastic  arts  ? 

The  natural  way  of  cultivating  a  taste  for  good  music 
is  to  enable  the  learner  to  hear  good  music  sung  or  pro- 
duced by  orchestras,  or  by  performers  upon  single  in- 
struments. It  is  evident  that  it  is  possible  only  in  rare 
instances  to  present  in  schools  for  the  benefit  of  pupils 
either  skilled  singers  or  trained  performers  upon  musical 
instruments,  either  single  or  in  bands.  Now  and  then 
in  the  larger  cities  in  a  very  few  cases  this  may  be  done, 
but  these  cases  are  so  exceptional  as  to  be  negligible  in 
any  general  consideration  of  the  musical  needs  of  chil- 
dren. Public  concerts  in  parks  sometimes  offer  real 
training  in  musical  taste,  and  fortunately  the  custom 
of  giving  such  concerts  is  growing.  But  the  schools  have 
no  control  over  these  offerings,  and  can  have  none. 
Moreover,  they  reach  a  comparatively  small  number. 
Can  the  schools  do  anything  for  the  many  children 
attending  them? 

Canned  Music.  —  There  seems  to  be  but  one  way 
at  present,  and  that  is  through  the  increased  use  of 

271 


272  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

''  canned  music."  Phonographs  and  mechanical  piano 
players  have  already  attained  a  considerable  popularity 
in  schools,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  their  use  may  be 
greatly  extended.  These  instruments  of  various  sorts 
have  been  so  greatly  improved  that  they  really  offer 
very  excellent  substitutes  for  the  personal  performer. 
In  many  cases  they  present  good  music  in  a  very  much 
better  style  than  the  best  local  talent,  even  if  this  could 
be  secured.  If  every  school  owned  a  first-class  phono- 
graph, or  a  good  piano-player,  or  both,  children  could 
hear  enough  good  music  really  to  develop  musical  taste. 

In  some  instances,  school  boards  are  wise  enough  to 
provide  such  instruments,  but  in  most  cases,  where  they 
have  been  obtained  for  schools,  it  has  been  done  through 
the  efforts  of  teachers  and  pupils,  aided  occasionally  by 
parents'  clubs  and  other  auxiliary  organizations.  It  is 
an  excellent  thing  to  work  for. 

Good  Music  to  Sing.  —  Aside  from  this  device,  al- 
most the  only  reliance  of  those  who  would  elevate  the 
people's  children  through  the  aid  of  music  is  in  the  kind 
of  music  presented  for  their  singing  exercises.  As  was 
said  in  the  preceding  chapter,  this  should  always  be 
good  music.  Mere  exercises,  scales,  runs,  and  all  pseudo- 
music,  should  take  a  subordinate  place,  merely  to  train 
the  ear  and  the  voice  and  to  give  the  ability  to  read 
music,  after  the  children,  through  singing  real  music, 
have  acquired  some  taste  and  a  desire  to  know  more  of 
the  art  which  already  gives  them  pleasure.  They  should 
never  precede  such  pleasurable  singing,  and  should  never 
supersede  it.  They  should  merely  accompany  it  when 
necessary,  in  order  to  make  it  more  pleasurable. 

The  ''music  books"  filled  with  "made  up"  strains  of 


The  Development  of  Taste  273 

inferior  grade,  so  common  in  our  schools,  should  go  to 
the  scrap  heap,  and  in  their  place  should  be  books  con- 
taining music,  real  music.  For  we  must  never  forget 
that  the  real  aim  of  teaching  music  in  schools  is  the  ele- 
vation of  the  feehngs  and  the  consequent  enrichment  of 
the  moral  nature,  and  the  one  essential  to  this  end  is 
music  itself,  line  music,  in  abundance,  developing  taste 
and  an  unquenchable  appetite  for  more  music. 

As  to  drawing  and  painting  and  modeling,  the  situa- 
tion is  much  more  encouraging,  or  rather  the  facilities 
for  cultivating  taste  are  much  more  easily  obtained. 

Reproductions  of  good  paintings  and  drawings  and 
statues  are  abundant  and  inexpensive.  A  very  small 
sum  of  money  will  equip  a  school  with  a  portfolio  of 
thoroughly  satisfactory  reproductions  of  the  best  of 
the  world's  paintings,  and  with  a  few  plaster  casts,  for 
all  instructional  purposes  as  good  as  the  originals.  It 
should  be  the  aim  of  every  school  to  own  such  a  treasury. 

It  is  not  enough  to  have  a  few  good  pictures  hanging 
on  the  walls,  though  of  course  these  should  be  present. 
There  should  also  be  the  portfolio.  And  all  these  pic- 
tures should  be  studied  sympathetically,  not  merely  to 
get  a  story  from  them  for  the  language  lesson,  but  to  find 
out  why  they  are  beautiful.  This  study  should  be  a 
regular  and  necessary  part  of  the  drawing  lesson.  In 
some  cases  it  might  profitably  precede  an  attempt  to 
draw  some  similar  subject,  but  in  most  it  should  be 
simply  a  study  to  find  the  beauty  —  a  training  in  taste. 

Feed  the  Soul  through  the  Eyes.  —  When  a  child  has 
completed  a  common  school  course,  it  is  not  enough  for 
him  to  be  able  to  draw  simple  objects  fairly  well.  He 
should  be  able  to  tell  a  good  picture  from  a  bad  one, 


-/: 


274  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

and  why  it  is  better,  and  he  should  love  the  good  picture 
and  despise  the  bad  one.  The  Sunday  comic  supple- 
ment should  excite  his  horror  and  detestation,  as  should 
some  of  the  illustrations  that  do  not  illustrate,  found 
in  popular  novels  and  magazines. 

We  do  not  pay  enough  attention  to  the  feeding  of 
children's  souls  through  the  eyes.  We  cannot  wholly 
prevent  the  presentation  to  them  of  the  base,  the  com- 
monplace, the  vulgar,  even  the  indecent,  in  books  and 
papers,  and  on  public  walls.  But  we  might  to  a  degree 
at  least  render  them  immune  to  these  degrading  sights 
by  cultivating  a  distaste  for  bad  art,  through  its  antipode, 
a  love  for  good  art.  Here  is  where  stress  should  be  laid 
in  the  art  departments  of  our  schools. 

It  is  possible,  if  the  schools  should  seriously  undertake 
to  cultivate  taste  in  the  children,  that,  in  time,  our  civili- 
zation would  be  so  far  removed  from  barbarism  that 
popular  sentiment  would  demand  the  entire  abolishment 
of  bill  boards.    But  that  may  be  an  iridescent  dream. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

The  Correlation  of  Studies 

Thus  far  we  have  discussed  the  values  of  the  different 
subjects  of  the  school  curriculum  considered  separately, 
and  have  endeavored  to  intimate  distinctly  some  ways 
by  which  these  values  might  be  secured  to  the  students. 
But  this  is  by  no  means  the  whole  story  of  education 
through  study.  In  a  higher  sense  no  subject  can  be 
considered  independently. 

The  Mind  One.  —  The  mind  is  one.  It  does  not 
consist  even  of  separate  "  faculties,"  as  taught  in  the 
older  psychology.  These  so-called  faculties  arc  but  vari- 
ous activities  of  the  mind.  Even  memory  is  composite 
and  contains  elements  of  reason,  of  feeHng,  and  even  of 
wilhng.  It  cannot  be  cultivated  at  all  without  calling 
into  service  these  elements.  If  this  is  true  of  the  mind 
itself,  it  is  especially  true  of  the  various  means  and  ma- 
terials that  are  employed  in  education. 

Knowledge  of  Relation.  —  Nothing  can  be  known 
alone.  All  knowledge  is  of  relations.  As  the  various 
foods  are  taken  into  the  body  and  there  cease  to  be  meat, 
potatoes,  bread,  and  become  "  one  body,"  essentially 
different  from  any  one  of  them,  so  all  knowledge  is  a 
fusion  of  many  elements,  which  have  lost  to  a  consider- 
able degree  their  original  characteristics. 

What  we  choose  to  call  arithmetic,  grammar,  and  read- 
ays 


276  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

ing,  when  used  in  education,  are  but  foods  of  the  mind, 
which  lose  their  identity  when  absorbed,  and  become 
simply  undistinguishable  elements  of  mind  stuff.  The 
only  knowledge,  again,  is  correlated  knowledge.  How- 
ever diligently  we  may  teach  disparate  subjects,  when 
they  become  subjective  knowledge,  they  have  been  by 
some  mysterious  process  of  mental  alchemy  fused  into 
the  mind  itself,  so  that  they  are  all  present  in  the  ac- 
tivities of  any  one. 

We  talk  of  abstract  number,  which  means  merely 
number  not  applied  to  a  particular  object.  But  num- 
bering, a  mental  act,  cannot  be  abstracted  from  reason, 
from  memory,  from  symbolizing,  from  a  hundred  other 
mental  act\aties.  The  Hegelians  have  much  to  say  of 
their  categories,  and  do  not  recognize  a  truth  until  it  is 
categoried.  This  is  a  rather  technical  and  materialistic 
way  of  stating  a  fundamental  truth.  Knowledge  does 
not  exist,  as  such,  until  it  has  found  its  place  among  the 
previously  possessed  knowledges  and  has  become  a  dis- 
tinct part  of  them,  almost  or  quite  unrecognizable  under 
its  own  name. 

Knowledge  Individual.  —  To  put  it,  possibly,  in  a 
more  plain  and  practical  way,  both  the  thing  learned  and 
the  learning  mind  are  modified  by  the  act  of  learning. 
This  is  apperception.  No  two  people  can  know  exactly 
the  same  thing.  The  mind  can  know  only  what  it  is 
fitted  to  know  by  reason  of  its  previous  content  and 
mode  of  action.  Dr.  Holmes  'W'ittily  expresses  this  in 
the  "  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table  "  thus :  "  It  is 
not  easy,  at  the  best,  for  two  persons  talking  together 
to  make  the  most  of  each  other's  thoughts,  there  are 
so  many  of  them.     When  John  and  Thomas,  for  in- 


Three  Johns. 


The  Correlation  of  Studies  277 

stance,  are  talking  together,  it  is  natural  enough  that 
among  the  six  there  should  be  more  or  less  confusion 
and  misapprehension. 

''As  I  said,  I  think  I  can  make  it  plain  to  Benjamin 
Frankhn  here,  that  there  are  at  least  six  personalities 
distinctly  to  be  recognized  as  taking  part  in  that  dia- 
logue between  John  and  Thomas. 

1.  The  real  John ;  known  only  to  his  INIaker. 

2.  John's  ideal  John;  never  the  real  one,  and 
often  very  unlike  him. 

3.  Thomas's  ideal  John;  never  the  real  John, 
nor  John's  John,  but  often  very  unlike 
either. 

fi .     The  real  Thomas. 
2.     Thomas's  ideal  Thomas. 
3.     John's  ideal  Thomas. 

"  Only  one  of  the  three  Johns  is  taxed ;  only  one  can  be 
weighed  on  a  platform  balance ;  but  the  other  two  are 
just  as  important  in  the  conversation.  Let  us  suppose 
the  real  John  to  be  old,  dull,  and  ill-looking.  But  as  the 
Higher  Powers  have  not  conferred  on  men  the  gift  of 
seeing  themselves  in  the  true  light,  John  very  possibly 
conceives  himself  to  be  youthful,  \\'itty,  and  fascinating, 
and  talks  from  the  point  of  view  of  this  ideal.  Thomas, 
again,  believes  him  to  be  an  artful  rogue,  we  will  say; 
therefore  he  is,  so  far  as  Thomas's  attitude  in  the  con- 
versation is  concerned,  an  artful  rogue,  though  really 
simple  and  stupid.  The  same  conditions  apply  to  the 
three  Thomases.  It  follows  that,  until  a  man  can  be 
found  who  knows  himself  as  his  Maker  knows  him,  or 
who  sees  himself  as  others  see  him,  there  must  be  at 
least  six  persons  engaged  in  every  dialogue  between  two. 


278  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

Of  these,  the  least  important,  philosophically  speaking, 
is  the  one  that  we  have  called  the  real  person.  No  won- 
der two  disputants  often  get  angry,  when  there  are  six 
of  them  talking  and  listening  all  at  the  same  time." 

To  a  child  riding  on  a  locomotive  with  his  father,  a  red 
light  is  only  a  red  light,  while  to  the  father  it  is  a  signal 
of  danger  or  even  of  death. 

To  Wordsworth's  Matthew, 

"  A  primrose  by  the  river's  brim, 
A  simple  primrose  was  to  him, 
And  it  was  nothing  more." 

While  to  the  poet  himself, 

"  The  meanest  flower  that  grows  can  give 
Thoughts  that  do  often  He  too  deep  for  tears." 

In  more  practical  fields,  —  A  general  term  such  as  a 
trapezoid  to  the  mathematician  brings  at  once  a  perfect 
image  of  the  geometric  figure,  w^hile  to  a  child  in  a  pri- 
mary school,  stud>ing  an  old-fashioned  arithmetic,  it 
means  —  nothing. 

Topics  Composite.  —  The  various  topics  named  in  a 
course  of  study  are  all  composite.  No  one  represents 
a  single  line  of  mental  activity,  or  a  single  exactly  segre- 
gated body  of  knowledge.  Each  is  merely  a  convenient 
conventional  grouping  of  more  or  less  closely  related 
bodies  of  facts.  Some  subjects,  such  as  geography,  are 
confessedly  agglomerations  of  many  sciences,  very  loosely 
coordinated.  Others,  as  arithmetic,  are  assemblages  of 
knowledge  associated  by  a  single  common  factor,  as 
number,  —  like  buttons  on  a  string.  A  few,  like  speUing, 
represent  more  nearly  a  single  field,  but  a  very  narrow 


The  Correlation  of  Studies  279 

one.  History  and  the  fine  arts  stand  for  a  more  sub- 
stantial, because  a  more  philosophical,  unity.  But  to 
treat  any  topic  of  the  curriculum  as  if  it  stood  alone  in 
the  field  of  facts  as  a  plainly  distinct  entity,  is  to  per- 
vert the  truth  and  to  place  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the 
natural  correlation  which  goes  on  in  the  mind  whenever 
anything  is  learned. 

The  Practical  Aspect.  —  The  practical  aspect  of  these 
truths  to  the  teacher  is  this  :  Since  all  facts  learned  must 
be  fused  in  the  mind  with  other  facts  known,  that  is, 
with  the  mind  itself,  it  behooves  the  teacher  to  present 
them  to  pupils  so  that  they  may  be  fused  readily.  There 
is  enormous  waste  in  the  ordinary  way  of  teaching  sub- 
jects ^vithout  special  regard  to  their  relations.  Text- 
books too  frequently  have  an  eye  single  to  the  topic 
named  in  the  title,  and  endeavor  to  separate  it  from 
all  other  topics  however  naturally  related,  and  to  treat 
it  as  an  abstract,  unrelated  entity,  so  that  the  child  and 
even  the  teacher  have  little  notion  of  the  essential  one- 
ness of  the  curriculum. 

It  is  true  that  in  the  intensive  study  appropriate  for 
university  specialists  such  abstraction  is  desirable  and 
even  necessary.  The  subject  being  already  well  known 
in  its  larger  aspects  and  in  its  broad  relations,  becomes 
the  proper  subject  for  minute  investigation  as  to  its  own 
essential  qualities.  But  the  children  in  elementary 
schools  have  no  such  general  knowledge.  Even  the 
simplest  relations  have  yet  to  be  made  plain  to  them. 
They  are  quite  too  wilUng  to  treat  learning  as  a  task  for 
the  memory.  So  they  learn  the  rule  and  the  definition 
and  the  isolated  fact,  in  order  that  they  may  recite  them 
glibly  to  the  teacher,  with  never  a  dream  that  they  con- 


28o  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

ceal  vital  truths  which  would  help  to  explain  the  in- 
finite complexity  of  en\'ironing  hfe. 

Unless  arithmetic  makes  clear  to  some  degree  the 
numerical  and  dimensional  characteristics  of  the  world, 
the  time  devoted  to  it  is  largely  wasted.  It  would  be 
wholly  so,  if  it  were  not  for  the  truth  that  the  mind  it- 
self, in  spite  of  the  textbook  and  the  teacher,  does  a 
vast  amount  of  coordinating  and  finds  meanings  in  state- 
ments in  themselves  meaningless,  as  set  forth  in  the 
lesson. 

The  language  lesson  is  too  often  the  study  of  rules 
and  forms  arbitrarily  given,  which  have  no  more  effect 
upon  the  speech  of  the  child  than  the  wind  that  blows. 
This  is  particularly  true  of  those  elementary  language 
lessons  that  feed  the  children  desiccated  grammar,  the 
husks  and  chaft"  of  language. 

Geography  perhaps  more  commonly  than  any  other 
school  topic  to  the  children  is  a  meaningless  and  lifeless 
study,  "  the  study  of  dots  and  lines  on  colored  pieces  of 
paper,"  as  Colonel  Parker  used  to  call  it. 

Though  of  late  years  much  more  has  been  done  to 
vitalize  teaching  and  learning,  still  our  schools  are  very 
far  from  making  knowledge  f  eal  to  the  children  by  placing 
it  in  its  proper  and  natural  relations,  and  thus  rendering 
the  process  of  fusion  easy. 

It  is  no  uncommon  thing  for  children  to  be  studying 
the  history  of  England,  the  geography  of  Africa,  the 
natural  phenomena  of  Minnesota,  all  on  the  same  day, 
while  at  the  same  time  memorizing  the  rules  of  grammar 
applied  to  nothing,  and  talking  ungrammatically  of  the 
subjects  named,  and  learning  to  write  "  Honesty  is  the 
best  policy,"  and  to  spell  hautboy,  pneumatics,  and  iti- 


The  Correlation  of  Studies  281 

compalihility ,  the  last-named  word  having  indeed  a 
general  application  to  the  various  ingredients  of  the 
educational  hodgepodge.  While  in  its  absurdity  this 
picture  may  be  extreme,  a  glance  at  almost  any  course 
of  study  will  discover  fairly  close  approximations  to  it. 

Waste.  —  Perhaps  the  worst  feature  of  the  prevailing 
plan  is  its  awful  waste  of  time  and  energy.  The  cry 
that  we  try  to  teach  too  many  things  in  school  is  certainly 
true  if  they  are  taught  as  so  many  irreconcilable  lists  of 
things  to  be  "  stored  away  "  in  the  mind. 

The  Remedy.  —  The  remedy  for  the  overcrowded 
curriculum  is  to  be  sought,  at  least  partially,  in  a  closer 
coordination  of  the  now  heterogeneous  topics.  History 
and  geography  need  to  be  joined  in  wedlock.  Nature 
study  should  be  adopted  into  the  family.  Language 
should  be  taught  as  one  means  of  expressing  ideas  on 
the  other  subjects  studied,  drawing  as  another.  Perhaps 
language  study  comes  nearer  to  being  a  universal  sol- 
vent than  any  other  single  topic,  because  of  its  manifest 
function  as  the  universal  means  of  expression. 

No  Topic  Dominant.  —  But  no  single  topic  can  be 
made  the  center  of  a  course  of  study,  for  no  one  is 
dominant  or  naturally  central.  The  various  attempts 
of  a  few  years  back  to  "  concentrate  "  the  course  of 
study  about  a  single  topic,  or  two  or  three  topics,  met 
with  foredoomed  failure,  and  brought  the  whole  subject 
of  the  correlation  of  studies  into  disrepute. 

There  is  no  mechanical  device  of  arrangement  that  will 
meet  all  cases,  because  learning  is  a  vital  process ;  the 
necessary  fusion  goes  on  in  and  with  the  mind.  The 
learning  child  is  the  necessary  center  of  all  correlation. 
About  him  and  his  individual  needs  and  aptitudes  the 


282  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

subjects  must  be  grouped  so  that  he  may  fuse  them  un- 
consciously, much  as  he  digests  his  food.  But  still  he 
may  be  greatly  aided  by  a  careful  selection  and  arrange- 
ment of  the  topics  in  the  course  of  study  and  especially 
in  the  daily  program. 

It  is  for  the  officials  who  make  the  course  of  study  and 
for  the  teachers  who  administer  it  to  watch  continually 
for  points  of  contact,  to  illumine  each  topic  presented  by 
reference  to  alHed  topics,  to  see,  in  short,  that  truths, 
and  not  mere  isolated  facts,  are  presented  as  food  to  the 
growing  minds  of  children. 

An  Important  Distinction.  —  One  distinction  is  im- 
portant, and,  if  carefully  observed,  will  do  much  toward 
making  knowledge  real,  and  consequently  toward  the  pre- 
vention of  scattering  and  the  elimination  of  waste,  —  and 
that  is  the  distinction  between  content  and  form,  between 
fundamental  vital  knowledge  and  the  various  minor  arts 
by  which  such  knowledge  is  acquired  and  expressed. 

If  language  is  always  treated  as  the  study  of  thought ; 
if  reading  is  always  taught  as  a  means  of  getting  ideas ; 
if  arithmetic  is  always  made  to  explain  some  important 
truth  in  the  physical  universe,  or  in  the  relations  of  man 
to  man ;  if  through  these  arts  the  children  are  given  in- 
sight into  physics,  commerce,  history,  literature,  human 
society,  then  the  arts  become  worthwhile,  and  then  also 
the  distracting  number  of  disparate  topics  in  the  school 
program  will  be  found  to  dwindle  naturally. 

The  nearer  we  can  approach  in  our  teaching  to  a 
realization  of  the  unity  of  knowledge,  without  running 
into  artificial  absurdities  of  correlation,  the  more  time  we 
shall  find  to  "  teach  the  essentials,"  and  the  essentials 
will  then  be  truly  essential,  because  they  will  be  vital. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

Efficiency  of  the  Course  of  Study 

Not  only  by  correlation  is  it  possible  to  make  room 
for  the  many  desirable  subjects  that,  it  is  claimed,  now 
overcrowd  the  course  of  study.  Equally  essential  is 
higher  efficiency  of  administration,  through  a  better  ad- 
justment of  studies  to  the  pupil's  mental  status,  and 
through  the  avoidance  of  useless  repetition.  This  ques- 
tion has  not  been  sufficiently  discussed  by  students  of 
education. 

Supposing  the  prevalent  course  of  study  in  our  ele- 
mentary schools  to  rest  upon  sound  bases,  psychological, 
social,  and  philosophical,  the  question  remains :  Is  it 
efficient  ?  Is  it  so  adjusted-  to  the  psychological  and 
social  needs  of  the  individual  pupils  as  to  render  ade- 
quate returns  for  the  efforts  expended  ? 

This  is  too  large  a  question  to  be  discussed  in  a  simple 
brief  chapter.  Indeed,  it  can  be  answered  fully  only  by 
such  a  searching  investigation  as  no  one  has  yet  under- 
taken. It  is  to  be  hoped  that  at  some  time  such  an 
examination  will  be  undertaken  either  by  one  of  the 
various  endowed  institutions  of  research,  or  better,  by 
the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education. 

A  Source  of  Waste.  —  I  must,  however,  though  briefly, 
call  attention  to  one  manifest  and  serious  source  of  waste 
in  the  general  administration  of  the  course  of  study,  to 

283 


284  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

v/hich  I  have  already  referred,  the  prodigal  waste  of  time 
through  useless  repetition. 

Several  subjects,  whose  function  is  chiefly  informa- 
tional, are  taken  up  in  the  primary  schools  in  simple  form 
and  then  repeated  in  the  intermediate  and  grammar 
schools  in  somewhat  fuller  detail  and  in  different 
language.  In  some  cases  even  these  modifications  either 
are  lacking  or  are  very  slight.  Some  subjects,  such  as 
reading  and  the  correct  use  of  language,  are  so  naturally 
progressive  that  no  such  repetition  is  possible.  But  with 
the  other  subjects  this  is  not  the  case. 

Geography.  —  Geography,    for    example,   is    usually 
taught  from  a  "two-book  series."     In  the  primary  book 
information  is  given   in  more  or  less  simple  language 
about  the  earth  as  a  whole,  about  geographic  phenom- 
ena, such  as  day  and  night,  the  planetary  system,  the 
succession  of  months  and  of  seasons ;  geographic  forms, 
as  hills,  valleys,  continents,  oceans,  plains,  and  the  rest ; 
geographic  causes,  such  as  erosion,  winds,  glaciers ;    and 
about  the  political  divisions  of  the  earth  as  shown  on 
maps.    Beginning  with  about  the  fifth  grade  the  higher 
book  is  taken,  in  which  these  facts  are  repeated  in  some- 
what different  language  and  in  greater  detail,  but  with- 
out great  difference  or  improvement.     Much  of  the  in- 
formation  given   in   the   primary  book  is  of  no  great  j 
interest  or  value  to  the  children  pursuing  it.     The  facts  ' 
are  memorized,  —  or  not,  as  may  be,  —  but  not  in  any  j 
true  sense  comprehended.     The   subject  is  usually  dis- 1 
liked,  and  hence  a  distaste  for  it  is  created  which  is  sure  j 
to  militate  against  the  best  results  in  the  higher  grades. 

There  is  no  special  reason  why  a  child  should  attempt! 
to  learn  or,  still  less,  to  comprehend  the  greater  part  of  J 


Efficiency  of  the  Course  of  Study         285 

the  facts  given  in  the  ordinary  primary  geography  at  the 
time  they  are  studied.  The  time  and  effort  expended 
upon  them  are  largely  wasted  or  worse.  They  might 
much  better  be  devoted  to  the  direct  study  of  environ- 
ment, such  as  nature  and  human  industries,  to  manual 
training,  and  to  other  ''  fads." 

Geography  is  now  commonly  studied  during  five  or  six 
consecutive  years,  with  no  better  results  at  the  end  than 
would  follow  two  years'  study  at  the  right  time,  when  the 
minds  of  the  chUdren  are  mature  enough  to  grasp  its 
principles. 

A  one-book  geography,  taken  up  say  at  the  beginning 
of  the  sixth  year,  would  find  the  students  ready.  They 
would  have  sufficient  knowledge  of  manifest  environing 
geographic  conditions  to  stimulate  curiosity,  and  maturity 
of  mind  enough  to  pursue  the  subject  intelligently  and 
swiftly.  All  the  increment  of  power  that  comes  with 
the  development  of  the  subject,  wdth  interest,  and  with 
abihty  to  think  consecutively,  —  the  natural  and  proper 
results  of  a  wise  primary  training,  —  would  make  it  pos- 
sible to  learn  more  in  one  or  two  years  than  is  now 
learned  in  six.  Any  one  who  has  listened  to  the  parrot- 
like repetition  by  primary  children  of  "  Montpelier  on 
the  Onion,"  of  "  The  principal  industries  are  manufac- 
turing, agriculture,  grazing,  and  mining,"  must  have 
been  first  amused  and  then  saddened  at  the  thought  of 
the  precious  years  frittered  away. 

It  is  simply  traditional  that,  geography  being  a  useful 
study,  its  facts  must  be  crammed  into  infant  minds. 
If  in  its  formal  presentation  it  could  be  entirely  cut  out 
of  our  primary  schools,  think  of  the  time  and  energy 
that  would  be  set  free  for  the  really  essential  things,  and 


286  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

there  would  be,  not  loss,  but  actual  gain,  for  geography 
itself. 

This  does  not  mean  that  there  should  be  no  considera- 
tion in  primary  schools  of  any  of  the  facts  that  enter 
into  that  assemblage  of  miscellanies  called  geography, 
but  merely  that  there  should  be  no  formal  textbook 
study  of  it,  and  that  the  study  should  be  limited  to  such 
phenomena  as  come  naturally  within  the  observation 
of  the  children.  It  should  be,  in  other  words,  nature 
study,  and  at  first  hand.  Through  "  nature  study  les- 
sons," used,  it  may  be,  as  subject  matter  for  language 
lessons,  enough  knowledge  could  be  obtained  both  to 
satisfy  the  present  need  and  to  provide  the  necessary 
apperception  centers  for  the  later  serious  study  of  the 
geography  textbook. 

Beyond  question  much  of  the  slow  progress  of  children 
in  primary  schools,  especially  noticeable  as  contrasted 
with  their  rapid  growth  before  coming  to  school,  is  due 
to  the  maladaptation  to  infant  digestion  of  the  pabulum 
offered.  We  are  unwilling  to  wait  for  minds  to  grow, 
but  must  stuff  them,  as  geese  are  stuft'ed  to  produce  the 
diseased  Hvers  desired  of  epicures. 

Nor  does  geography  stand  alone  in  this  indictment. 
Grammar  is  almost  as  great  a  sinner  against  childhood 
and  its  proper  education.  The  grammar  taught  to  in- 
fant minds,  even  if  predigested  in  a  pseudo  "  language 
book,"  is  even  more  worthless  to  the  children  than  the 
contents  of  a  primary  geography.  It  has  nothing  to  do 
with  their  speech  or  with  their  writing  of  English  at  this 
stage.  It  is  a  mere  intruder  and  time  waster.  If  all 
the  time  devoted  to  it  below  the  seventh  grade,  —  I  had 
almost  said  below  the  high  school,  —  could  be  given  to 


Efficiency  of  the  Course  of  Study         287 

securing  habits  of  correct  speech  and  to  constructive 
EngHsh,  including  the  gathering  and  assorting  of  material 
to  write  about,  and  if  then  the  student  could  come  to  it, 
when  mature  enough,  fresh  and  eager  for  the  reasons  for 
what  he  had  learned  to  do,  a  single  year  would  suffice 
to  cover  all  the  ground  necessary  for  any  intelligent 
man  or  woman,  not  professionally  a  scholar,  or  "  ht- 
erary  person." 

The  slow  progress,  the  discouragement,  the  dislike,  — 
almost  universal  as  they  are,  —  are  due  to  the  attempt 
to  teach  a  metaphysical  subject  during  the  time  when  the 
child's  whole  interest  is  in  the  material  and  social  worlds. 

Knowledge  of  the  metaphysical  nature  of  a  sentence  is 
not  an  imperative  demand  of  either  the  mind  or  society 
that  needs  to  be  thrust  upon  the  infant  in  formulae, 
whether  understood  or  not.  To  teach  it  in  the  third 
grade  and  again  in  the  eighth  is  not  merely  to  waste 
the  time  of  child  and  teacher,  it  tends  to  deaden  the 
child's  mind,  destroy  his  interest,  and  pervert  his  view 
of  school. 

Arithmetic.  —  But  possibly  the  greatest  waste  of  time 
through  useless  repetition  is  in  arithmetic,  —  Arith- 
metic !  the  "  solid  "  American's  Bible,  the  foundation 
of  our  fortunes,  our  virtues,  our  civilization,  without 
which  we  should  have  neither  financier  nor  embezzler  — 
can  it  be  possible  to  have  too  much  of  it  ?    Let  us  see. 

In  most  schools  a  textbook  in  Arithmetic  is  taken  up 
in  the  third  grade,  —  in  some,  even  earlier.  From  that 
time  it  is  pursued  unremittingly,  relentlessly,  till  the 
bitter  end.  Six  continuous  years  at  the  least,  and  during 
all  of  that  time  it  is  the  major  subject.     Does  it  pay? 

If  children  had  no  textbook  in  arithmetic  before  the 


288  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

fifth  year  and  then  studied  it,  for  no  longer  time  each  day 
than  is  now  given  to  it,  for  two  years,  at  the  end  of  that 
time  they  would  know  as  much  of  the  subject  as  they  do 
now  at  the  end  of  the  elementary  school  course.  Neces- 
sarily a  certain  study  of  number  would  come  into  the 
school  life  in  all  its  years  as  it  does  into  the  life  outside 
of  school,  but  the  formal  study  of  arithmetical  princi- 
ples does  not  necessarily  come  into  either  life  at  this  age. 

Every  good  kindergarten  teaches  number,  every  con- 
tact with  the  world  teaches  number.  Counting,  and 
making  the  simple  additions  and  subtractions  that  life, 
in  school  and  out,  require,  are  acquired  naturally  and 
almost  unconsciously.  A  young  child  has  no  use  for 
elaborate  notation  or  for  large  numbers.  To  try  to 
teach  him  the  reasons  for  '*  carrying  "  and  "  borrowing  " 
in  addition  and  subtraction  is  to  dull  his  perception  with 
words,  and  this  is  true  in  most  cases  even  when  simple 
and  logical  methods  are  employed.  The  only  possible 
way  of  giving  him  even  a  ghmmering  of  the  truth  is  by 
some  form  of  muscular  effort  such  as  is  mentioned  in 
Chapter  XI  of  this  book.  But  even  that  had  better  be 
deferred  for  several  years,  until  the  pupil  is  mentally 
ready  for  it  and  curious  about  it. 

If  all  the  number  work  in  the  primary  school  were  in- 
formal and  incidental,  —  "  not  accidental  "  ;  that  is, 
the  grasping  of  the  very  few  number  facts  that  are  needed 
to  secure  the  child's  adjustment  to  his  environment, 
not  only  would  he  actually  know  more  arithmetic  at  the 
end  of  the  primary  school  than  he  does  now,  but  his 
further  progress  in  the  grammar  school  would  be  un- 
impeded by  baleful  memories  of  earher  discouragements 
and  agonies. 


Efficiency  of  the  Course  of  Study         289 

It  is  not  necessary  to  elaborate  upon  other  subjects. 
One  of  the  most  popular  physiology  texts  for  elementary 
schools,  a  two-book  series,  repeats  the  greater  part  of  the 
first  book  in  the  second,  verbatim  et  literatim.  Imagine 
the  enthusiasm  of  a  child  coming  upon  the  familiar 
matter  in  his  grammar-school  text. 

Books  but  Interpret  Life.  —  Let  us  not  forget  that 
"  book-learning  "  at  best  is  but  the  interpretation  of 
life,  in  words,  and  often  is  not  even  that,  but  is  a  mere 
memorizing  of  words  divorced  from  ideas;  that  a  knowl- 
edge of  life  must  therefore  precede  a  study  of  books, 
and  that  the  wider  this  knowledge  the  larger  the  value 
of  the  books ;  that  children  are  first  naturally  inter- 
ested in  the  environing  world  ;  and  we  shall  then  begin 
to  see  the  proper  order  of  elementary  studies. 

While  Rousseau's  doctrine  had  many  absurdities,  it 
had  also  a  foundation  of  truth.  Nature,  social  and  ma- 
terial, is  the  child's  first  school.  Let  him  attend  it  and 
get  all  he  can  from  it.  Let  us  reserve  adult  studies  and 
adult  processes  for  adult  minds.  Let  us  not  force  them 
upon  infant  minds  even  in  predigested  form,  but  let  us 
give  the  Uttle  ones  what  they  need,  and  thus  prepare 
them  for  the  more  difficult  problems  which  will  be  pre- 
sented in  due  time. 

If  our  course  of  study  could  be  adjusted  so  that  during 
the  earlier  years  the  children  were  occupied  chiefly  with 
activities,  observations,  and  adjustments ;  acquiring  a 
practical,  though  fragmentary,  knowledge  of  the  world 
and  its  arts;  gaining  power  by  exercise,  physical,  in- 
tellectual, moral ;  learning  to  read  and  acquiring  love  for 
good  reading,  learning  to  use  good  English  in  oral  and 
written  speech,  learning  to  think  about  things  as  they 


290  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

occur,  learning  to  do  things  that  should  be  done,  learning 
to  make  useful  articles,  learning,  in  short,  to  live  satis- 
factory children's  lives,  and  then,  when  a  Uttle  older 
and  more  mature,  could  take  up  seriously  the  subjects 
that  must  be  studied  from  books,  —  if  this  revolution 
could  be  wrought  in  our  educational  adjustment,  it  would 
work  a  revolution  equally  startling  in  the  effectiveness 
of  our  schools,  in  training  wise,  well  equipped,  well  in- 
formed, skillful,  intelligent,  and  competent  citizens,  with 
a  zealous  desire  for  further  education  throughout  life. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 
Moral  Training 

The  Need  Recognized.  —  There  is  a  very  general 
demand  that  the  schools  do  more  than  they  have  done 
for  the  moral  training  of  pupils.  The  demand  is  as 
vague  as  it  is  general.  The  one  hopeful  feature  is  the 
evidence  that  people  appreciate  the  need.  However  un- 
willingly, they  are  compelled  to  admit  that  the  agencies 
heretofore  depended  upon  to  train  the  young  in  the 
principles  and  practice  of  good  conduct  are  not  suflS- 
cient  for  present-day  conditions.  The  chief  of  those 
agencies  are  the  home  and  the  church. 

One  of  the  unhappy  social  tendencies  of  this  age 
of  quick  changes  appears  to  be  away  from  the  old- 
fashioned  home,  as  the  center  and  source  of  ideals  and 
inspiration.  Many  of  those  who  in  former  times  would 
have  been  homemakers  have  other  more  absorbing  aims. 
The  conditions  of  life  in  large  cities,  especially  among 
the  poor,  in  many  instances  render  the  secluded,  self- 
centered  home  impossible.  Very  large  numbers  of  future 
citizens  necessarily  spend  their  childhood  and  youth 
without  the  sheltering  care,  the  blood-group  inspirations 
of  that  best  of  all  institutions,  the  American  home,  as 
we  of  the  older  generation  understand  it.  Even  in  the 
better  homes  there  is  little  of  the  old-time  definite  moral 
training.      Father    is  too  busy;    mother  is  too  much 

291 


292  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

"  cumbered  with  many  cares,"  bridge,  suffrage,  mis- 
sionaries, to  attend  to  it. 

Even  the  church  does  not  and  under  present  condi- 
tions cannot  cover  the  field.  It  is  sufficient  to  note  the 
vast  numbers  of  families  that  never  go  to  church.  Cer- 
tain large  and  populous  organizations  regard  the  church 
as  in  the  main  hostile  to  their  interests.  Unjust  as  this 
attitude  is,  it  yet  excludes  the  members  of  these  organi- 
zations and  their  families  from  the  moral  training  offered 
by  the  church,  —  which  is  our  only  point  here. 

The  school,  on  the  other  hand,  is  universal  in  its 
reach.  Practically  all  children  come  under  its  influence. 
Hence  those  who  see  the  great  gaps  left  by  the  older 
agencies  more  and  more  look  to  the  school  to  fill 
them. 

Certainly,  if  we  have  not  some  agency,  to  train  the 
youth  to  lives  of  virtue,  we  are  in  a  parlous  state.  Mat- 
thew Arnold's  oft-quoted  remark  that  "  conduct  is  three- 
fourths  of  life  "  seems  rather  an  understatement  than  an 
overstatement.  Conduct  really  is  practically  all  of  life, 
the  sum  and  the  flower  of  all  attainments,  all  growth,  all 
experience,  and  if,  after  years  of  training  in  school,  in 
the  home,  and  in  society  at  large,  boys  and  girls  in  large 
numbers  are  immoral,  or  even  unmoral,  in  their  conduct, 
something  is  altogether  wrong.  If  the  old  agencies 
fail  in  this  respect,  some  new  agency  must  be  found,  or 
civilization  is  doomed.  All  this,  however,  merely  states 
the  problem  and  helps  very  little  in  its  solution. 

Fundamental  Questions.  —  Certain  fundamental  ques- 
tions must  be  answered  unless  we  are  to  blunder  along 
in  the  familiar  American  way : 

First,  what  do  we  mean  by  morality  ? 


Moral  Training  293 

Second,  how  far  and  by  what  measures  can  youth  be 
trained  to  morahty? 

Third,  what  is  the  function  of  the  school  in  giving  such 
training  ?     How  far  may  it  go,  safely  and  legitimately  ? 

Fourth,  the  above  questions  being  determined,  how 
are  our  schools,  as  at  present  manned  and  organized,  to 
go  about  the  task  ? 

In  a  single  chapter,  naturally,  it  is  impossible  to  give 
more  than  brief  answers  to  these  questions.  i 

Distinction  between  Morals  and  Morality.  —  The 
first  question  involves  a  fundamental  distinction  too 
commonly  ignored  by  those  people  who  call  for  courses 
in  moral  training,  with  the  calm  assurance  that  they  are 
sufficient  to  make  children  upright.  I  refer  to  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  principles  of  conduct  resting  upon 
a  foundation  of  character  and  a  superficial  conformity  to 
conventional  moral  standards.  This  distinction,  which 
may  be  called  that  between  morality  and  morals,  is  not 
imaginary.  It  is  real.  Many  a  person  is  conventionally 
moral,  even  "  pious,"  who  yet  lacks  moral  principle  or 
true  morality.  The  occasional  lapses  into  open  dis- 
honesty of  people  of  this  type  simply  show  that  although 
there  was  outward  conformity  to  convention,  there  was 
no  real  morality,  no  real  antagonism  to  wrongdoing, 
and  when  temptation  arrived,  moral  disaster  followed. 

This  is  quite  different  from  hypocrisy,  or  the  conscious 
doing  of  wrong  while  professing  right.  It  goes  far  deeper 
than  that.  These  people  have  believed  themselves  good, 
just  as  others  have  believed  them  good,  because  they  con- 
formed to  the  prevailing  code  of  morals.  They  did  not 
themselves  know  that  they  were  bad  at  heart.  A  part 
of  the  trouble  at  least  was  in  their  alleged  moral  training. 


294  What   Children   Study  and  Why 

They  had  been  trained  to  believe  that  goodness  con- 
sisted in  obeying  rules. 

On  the  other  hand,  some  of  the  greatest  and  best  have 
openly  and  purposely  defied  the  moral  conventions  of 
their  times.  Jesus  shocked  the  conventionally  good 
people  of  his  time  by  breaking  the  Sabbath  laws  and 
in  many  other  ways.  Perhaps  his  greatest  battle  was 
against  the  confusion  of  morality  with  conventional 
morals.  The  Pharisees,  who  received  his  keenest 
shafts,  ivere  not  worse  than  other  people.  They  were 
simply  the  conventionally  good,  who  cared  only  for  the 
"  outside  of  the  cup  and  platter."  The  bearing  of  this 
distinction  upon  the  subject  in  hand  is  simply  this,  that 
most  of  the  moral  training  suggested  for  schools  has  to 
do  solely  wdth  externals.  It  looks  toward  conventional 
morals  and  not  toward  fundamental  morality.  Let  me 
say  here  that  I  am  not  attacking  conventional  morals. 
For  the  average  person  there  is  no  safe  course  open  other 
than  to  follow  them.  It  is  only  for  the  prophet  or  the 
wise  independent  thinker  to  modify  them.  But  they  are 
not  to  be  confused  with  the  real  thing,  which  is  sound 
character. 

Essentials  of  Morality.  —  The  essentials  of  morality 
are  properly  cultivated  feelings,  leading  to  wise  choices, 
a  will  trained  to  make  such  choices  in  obedience  to  right 
feeling,  and  sound  moral  judgment  as  a  guide  to  action, 
the  balance  wheel  of  conduct;  in  other  words,  a  well 
trained  controlHng  conscience  approved  by  moral  judg- 
ment. If  moral  training  is  really  to  accomplish  the  desired 
results,  it  must  aim  at  this  higher  goal.  Otherwise  the 
training,  however  elaborate  and  extensive,  will  do  more 
harm  than  good,  because,  while  it  may  develop  a  certain 


Moral  Training  295 

superficial  conscience,  it  will  surely  pervert  the  judg- 
ment and  cultivate  pharisaism. 

Possibility  of  Moral  Training.  —  Second,  to  what 
extent  can  youth  be  trained  to  right  conduct,  and  by 
what  agencies  available  to  the  teacher  ?  Certainly  not 
by  any  mere  catechetical  method  or  by  any  system  of 
instruction  in  the  conventions  of  society.  This  does 
not  mean  that  such  instruction  is  not  of  value.  It  is 
more  than  that.  It  is  absolutely  necessary,  but  it  is 
insufficient  for  the  securing  of  good  conduct.  As  con- 
duct is  practically  all  of  Hfe,  it  is  the  outgrowth  of  hfe, 
and  the  only  adequate  training  for  it  is  a  good  life. 
That  is,  the  subject  is  all-inclusive. 

In  answer  to  our  question,  then  :  No  doubt,  if  we  could 
entirely  control  the  environment  of  a  child  from  infancy, 
could  see  that  just  the  right  forces  worked  upon  him, 
that  he  put  forth  his  activities  in  just  the  proper  directions 
and  degrees,  we  could  train  him  to  good  conduct  with 
almost  certain  assurance.  Such  a  training,  however, 
would  require  not  merely  omnipotence,  but  omniscience 
as  well.  Still,  in  spite  of  the  inevitable  limitations  of 
school  life  and  environment,  much  may  be  done  toward 
the  right  kind  of  moral  training.  It  can  be  done  in  any 
school  and  with  any  children,  even  the  worst,  provided 
the  teachers  rid  themselves  of  the  notion  that  knowl- 
edge is  sufficient,  especially  knowledge  couched  in 
general  terms,  such  as  proverbs,  wise  sayings,  command- 
ments. 

Ten  Commandments  Negative.  —  It  is  interesting  to 
observe  in  this  connection  that  the  ten  commandments 
of  the  ancient  Jewish  \lw,  invaluable  as  they  have  been 
in  the  history  of  the  moral  evolution  of  the  race,  are,  with 


296  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

a  single  exception,  negative ;  all  but  two  begin  with 
"  Thou  Shalt  Not,"  and  one  of  these  two,  the  one  relating 
to  the  Sabbath,  is  almost  wholly  prohibitive  in  character ; 
the  sole  exception  is  the  commandment  in  relation  to  the 
treatment  of  parents.  Hence,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
ten  commandments  give  little  impulse  to  the  higher 
moral  nature.  They  are  useful  in  the  childhood  of 
the  race  or  of  the  individual,  but  their  usefulness  dis- 
appears before  the  rising  of  the  true  moral  sense.  This 
weakness  was  recognized  by  Jesus,  who  supplemented 
the  ten  commandments  by  the  two  positive  commands 
so  full  of  meaning,  —  "  Thou  Shalt  Love  the  Lord  Thy 
God  "  and  "  Thou  Shalt  Love  Thy  Neighbor,"  which 
express  briefly  the  spirit  of  the  higher  modem  civiliza- 
tion and  the  hope  and  ultimate  end  of  moral  development. 
They  are  commands  to  be  obeyed,  not  in  specific  acts 
leaving  a  sense  of  virtue,  but  in  the  whole  of  life. 
They  are  of  the  essence  of  morality,  and  not  its  mere 
outward  manifestations.  As  they  take  hold  upon  the 
moral  nature  the  need  for  prohibitions  disappears. 

Need  and  Dangers  of  Prohibitions. — In  training  youth, 
undoubtedly  prohibitions  are  necessary.  The  earlier 
stages  of  moral  development  require  restraint  from  with- 
out, but  to  stop  with  these  is  to  arrest  the  development 
of  the  character,  and  arrested  moral  development,  which 
is  much  more  serious  than  arrested  intellectual  develop- 
ment, is  also  more  common.  It  is  shown  in  devotion 
to  forms  and  to  ceremonies  of  all  kinds,  from  which  the 
individual  gets  the  feeling  of  self-complacency  from  virtue 
achieved,  of  superiority  over  liis  less  virtuous  neighbors, 
and  of  safety  from  the  infliction  of  punishment,  and  all 
without  doing  any  really  virtuous  act. 


Moral  Training  297 

Still,  as  has  been  said,  inhibition  must  come  into  the 
moral  training  of  children,  especially  in  its  earlier  stages. 
They  must  be  told  not  to  do  a  great  many  things,  but 
this  only  until  they  can  be  led  to  appreciate  positive 
motives.  The  ultimate  effort  always  must  be  to  lead 
them  into  a  virtuous  habit  of  thought  and  feehng,  so 
that  good  conduct  will  flow  naturally  and  habitually 
from  the  fountains  of  the  moral  life  itself. 

Order  of  Procedure  in  Conduct.  —  At  this  point  it  is 
necessary  to  consider  briefly  what  may  be  called  the  order 
of  procedure  in  all  conduct,  and  it  is  to  be  feared  that  we 
must  abandon  at  least  the  extreme  views  of  the  transcen- 
dental will  as  advocated  by  Hegel  and  his  followers,  notably 
the  late  William  T.  Harris,  United  States  Commissioner  of 
Education.  While  we  no  longer  regard  the  faculties 
of  the  mind  as  existing  in  separate  forms,  —  the  intellect, 
the  feelings,  and  the  will,  —  still  this  old  division  rep- 
resents well  enough  the  mental  processes  that  lead  to 
conduct,  and  these  as  outlined  by  Mark  Hopkins  still 
hold,  even  with  the  newer  psychology. 

In  the  normal  mind,  and  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
conduct  begins  with  knowledge,  which  leads  to  feeling, 
which  leads  to  choice.  The  feeling  necessarily  follows 
some  action  of  the  intellect.  There  must  be  some  knowl- 
edge before  there  can  be  feeling.  The  action  of  the 
will,  the  choice,  inevitably  follows  the  feehngs;  the 
feelings  supply  the  motive  to  all  conduct.  The  will 
cannot  act  without  motive ;  we  cannot  help  choosing 
the  action  the  motive  for  which  is  strongest  with  us. 
Wilhe  is  left  at  home  alone.  His  mother  said  to  him 
before  departing,  "  Willie,  don't  you  touch  that  jam 
on  the  pantry  shelf."     WilHe  Hkes  jam.     He  also  hkes 


298  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

to  do  what  he  has  been  told  not  to  do.  Will  he  take  the 
jam  or  will  he  not  ?  It  is  purely  a  question  of  strength 
of  motive.  On  the  one  side  is  his  love  for  his  mother,  his 
fear  of  punishment  if  he  disobeys,  and  whatever  of  con- 
science has  been  developed  in  him;  on  the  other  is 
his  loye  for  jam,  and  his  bravado.  If  the  former  set 
of  motives  is  the  stronger  with  him,  he  will  let  the  jam 
alone.  If  the  latter  is  the  stronger,  then  it  follows  that 
he  must  take  it.  He  cannot  do  otherwise  than  obey  the 
stronger  motive.  This  is  an  epitome  of  the  process  in  all 
moral  acts,  —  Caesar  at  the  Rubicon,  Judas  before  the 
Elders,  John  at  Runnymede,  Father  Damien  looking  to 
the  isle  of  lepers,  Aaron  Burr  at  West  Point.  All  these 
made  choices,  and  in  every  case  obeyed  the  motives  that 
were  strongest  with  them,  and  they  could  do  nothing 
else. 

Harmonizes  with  the  Bible.  —  While,  as  has  been  said, 
this  does  not  harmonize  with  the  extreme  view  of  the 
transcendental  will,  it  does  harmonize  with  the  teachings 
of  the  Bible.  "  As  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he." 
To  think  in  the  heart  is  to  feel.  "  Keep  thine  heart  \vith 
all  diligence  for  out  of  it  are  the  issues  of  Hfe."  So,  we 
see,  the  doctrine  is  in  full  accord  with  the  best  that  we 
know  as  to  moral  training,  and  it  furnishes  a  key  for  the 
teacher  who  would  lead  children  to  habitual  right  con- 
duct. It  is  the  basis,  in  other  words,  of  morality  rather 
than  of  conventional  morals.  How  then  can  its  principles 
be  inculcated. 

How  to  Inculcate  Principles.  —  Take  the  order  of 
procedure  of  conduct  as  above  given.  Knowledge  must 
come  first,  and  here  is  the  first  great  danger  of  slipping 
into  the  easy  rut  of  formality.     The  knowledge  must  be 


Moral  Training  299 

vital  and  not  merely  verbal  or  formal.  It  must  be  of 
such  a  sort  as  to  rouse  the  right  kind  of  feelings. 

Authority  Insufficient.  —  It  is  not  enough  that  the 
child  know  that  some  one  has  said,  "  This  is  right, 
that  is  wrong."  That  is  the  old  deceptive  way  of  au- 
thority, the  basis  of  tyranny,  ecclesiasticism,  persecution, 
superstition.  "  I  am  authority.  It  is  my  function  to 
tell  you  what  to  do.  It  is  your  duty  to  obey.  Obey  and 
you  go  to  Heaven.  Disobey  and  you  go  —  elsewhere." 
This  is  the  religion  of  all  tyrants,  whether  ecclesiastic, 
monarch,  political  boss,  parent,  or  teacher.  It  mistakes 
obedience,  the  necessary  but  temporary  support  of  the 
morally  immature,  the  crutch  of  the  morally  lame,  for 
the  rock  on  which  character  rests.  Still  more  feeble 
and  deceptive  is  the  apparent  knowledge  given  in  prov- 
erbs and  moral  sayings,  which  are  at  most  but  partial 
truths  and  sometimes  not  truths  at  all.  Mark  Twain 
once  said,  "  Even  a  proverb  may  be  true."  One  at 
times  is  almost  ready  to  think  that  Mark  Twain  exag- 
gerated. The  smug  satisfaction  of  the  small  mind  con- 
tinually quoting  "  Honesty  is  the  best  policy,"  "  Early 
to  bed,  early  to  rise,"  '*  Spare  the  rod  and  spoil  the  child," 
and  the  rest,  not  only  is  ludicrous,  but  it  stands  in  the  way 
of  true  moral  growth,  and  yet  many  advocates  of  in- 
troducing moral  training  into  schools  in  their  suggested 
plans  rise  little  above  Sancho  Panza,  the  greatest  of  all 
authorities  on  pregnant  sayings. 

There  is  a  special  danger  in  proverb-fed  opinions,  the 
danger  that  exists  in  all  half  truths.  The  child  who 
is  told  that  honesty  is  the  best  policy,  and  then  finds  that 
it  is  not,  —  that  is,  that  as  a  business  pohcy  it  fails  in  at 
least  a  large  number  of  cases,  that  many  of  those  who 


300  What  Children  Study  and  Why- 

make  the  largest  fortunes  make  them  in  violation  of 
honesty,  or  at  least  in  suppression  of  it, —  this  child  is 
quite  likely  to  believe  that  his  whole  moral  code  is  wrong. 
He  is  like  the  child  who,  discovering  that  he  has  been 
deceived  in  regard  to  Santa  Claus,  questions  the  exist- 
ence of  a  God. 

Kjiowledge  of  conventions  of  whatever  sort,  whether 
based  upon  authority  or  upon  accepted  sayings,  is  a 
feeble  reliance  for  character.  It  is  true  that  a  certain 
amount  of  conventional  knowledge  must  be  given.  Chil- 
dren must  know  what  they  should  not  do  in  the  ordinary 
relations  of  life  and  what  they  should  do,  as  viewed  by 
their  associates  and  elders ;  that  is,  they  need  those  of 
the  ten  commandments  that  apply  to  modern  times. 
But  this  knowledge  is  merely  for  convenience,  or  to 
help  over  the  stage  of  moral  helplessness. 

Knowledge  of  Principles  Needed.  —  The  knowledge 
that  is  needed  is,  first,  a  knowledge  of  fundamental 
principles,  because  every  law  of  right  must  go  back  to 
these.  Morahty  is  altogether  social.  The  validity  of 
its  laws  rests  entirely  upon  the  relations  of  man  to 
man,  and  every  moral  maxim  must  be  referred  back  to 
its  social  motive.  It  is  contended  that  children  cannot 
understand  the  reasons  for  conduct  and  hence  must  be 
guided  wholly  by  authority.  This  is  true  doubtless  with 
very  young  children  and  to  a  certain  extent  with  older 
ones,  but  to  a  far  less  extent  than  most  believe.  The 
fundamental  principles  of  ordinary  human  conduct  are 
so  simple  that  children  can  understand  them.  It  is 
not  enough  to  say  to  a  child,  "  Thou  Shalt  Not  Steal." 
It  is  necessary  and  very  easy  in  addition  to  this  to  show 
him  why  it  is  wrong  to  steal.     The  relation  of  parent  to 


Moral  Training  301 

child  is  one  that  is  often  puzzling,  and  merely  saying  to 
the  son  of  a  drunken  profligate  or  brute,  —  "  Honor  Thy 
Father,"  is  not  likely  to  prove  very  impressive.  But 
it  is  possible  to  make  the  child,  even  of  such  a  parent, 
understand  the  sort  of  obligations  due.  The  plan  of 
those  who  would  teach  in  school  abstinence  from  the  use 
of  liquors  is  the  correct  one.  It  aims  to  acquaint  chil- 
dren with  the  effect  of  the  use  of  alcoholic  stimulants 
upon  hfe,  and  claims  to  be  scientific.  The  validity  of 
the  principle  is  not  affected  by  the  fact  that  in  too  many 
cases  the  method  is  badly  applied  and  exaggerations  are 
indulged  in  which  lead  children  later  to  reject  all  the 
teaching  on  the  subject. 

Knowledge  must  Rouse  Feelings.  —  The  kind  of 
knowledge  given  for  moral  purposes  must  be  the  kind 
that  rouses  good  feeHngs,  because  feelings,  as  we  have 
seen,  are  the  key  to  conduct.  Bare  statements  of  moral 
obligations  do  not  necessarily  appeal  to  the  feeUngs,  and 
consequently  slide  off  the  well-oiled  conscience  of  a  child 
without  resulting  in  conduct.  This  apphes  not  merely 
to  the  character  of  the  knowledge  given,  but  to  the 
method  of  imparting  it.  The  aim  of  all  instruction  in 
morals  must  be  to  stimulate  love  for  right  doing  and 
hatred  of  wrong  doing,  and  to  make  such  feelings  habit- 
ual ;  that  is,  to  develop  the  right  kind  of  conscience,  for 
conscience  is  merely  a  habit  of  feeling. 

What  is  meant  by  vital  knowledge  and  knowledge 
that  stimulates  feelings  will  be  discussed  more  fully  a 
httle  later  when  considering  the  specific  work  of  the 
school. 

Knowledge  Insufficient.  —  Knowledge  alone,  whether 
of  maxims  or  of  principles,  is  an  insufficient  reliance  for 


302  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

those  who  would  train  the  young  to  right  conduct.  There 
are  really  very  few  who  do  not  know  what  is  right  and 
what  is  wrong  under  ordinary  circumstances,  and  some 
of  the  worst  offenders  against  moral  law  are  to  be  found 
among  the  most  highly  intelligent,  even  as  to  moral 
principles  and  the  results  of  courses  of  conduct. 

Influence  of  Environment.  —  Vastly  more  important 
than  all  instruction  is  environment,  the  moral  atmos- 
phere in  which  a  child  Hves,  the  motives  that  are 
regularly  presented  for  conduct  in  the  ordinary  com- 
monplace affairs  of  life,  for  it  is  not  upon  the  unusual, 
the  extraordinary,  experiences  that  for  the  most  part 
character  is  founded.  Especially  important  is  the  pre- 
vailing sentiment  toward  people  and  toward  conduct 
that  rules  in  the  life  around  the  child.  An  atmos- 
phere of  sordidness  and  selfishness  in  the  home  is  pretty 
sure  to  make  the  child  as  he  grows  up  sordid  and  selfish, 
while  habitual  altruism,  consideration  for  others,  pride 
in  integrity,  if  found  in  the  home  and  the  other  daily 
associations  of  children,  furnish  the  strongest  reliance 
possible  for  the  development  of  good  character  along 
these  lines. 

What  is  frequently  assumed  to  be  inheritance  can 
readily  enough  be  traced  to  the  controlHng  influence  of 
enviroimient  from  infancy.  If  we  could  make  sure  that 
a  child  lived  in  the  midst  of  the  best  influences  steadily, 
we  should  have  the  best  assurance  also  that  he  would 
grow  up  good,  provided  however  he  had  sufficient  op- 
portunity for  self-development  —  and  for  battle;  fori 
good  environment  alone,  invohdng  complete  protection 
from  evil,  is  pretty  sure  to  lead  to  moral  breakdown] 
later.     Rasselas  was  so  protected.     But  in  real  life  suchl 


Moral  Training  303 

complete  protection  is  impossible,  and  perhaps  fortu- 
nately. A  good  home,  however,  is  not  impossible,  to 
serve  as  a  refuge  after  the  battle,  and,  before  it,  to  supply 
the  child  with  the  armor  of  self-confidence,  right  feeling, 
good  motives,  and  strong  determination.  This  is  the 
ordinary  reliable  moral  training. 

The  Great  Exceptions.  —  There  is  one  class  of  excep- 
tions so  important  that  they  must  be  considered.  Life 
does  not  always  run  along  smoothly  and  regularly.  Un- 
usual experiences  come  to  most  people,  and  in  many  lives 
such  experiences  seem  to  be  controlling.  There  is  a  force 
mightier  than  habit  due  to  regular  environment,  which 
often  upsets  the  well-laid  "  plans  of  mice  and"  parents. 
It  is  due  to  the  psychological  truth  which  we  have  ex- 
plained, that  the  motive  of  conduct  is  in  the  feeling. 
Strong,  sudden  feelings,  roused  by  some  wholly  unex- 
pected influence,  may  throw  to  the  winds  apparently 
all  the  effect  of  good  or  bad  environment.  A  violent 
appeal  to  the  passions,  a  tremendous  and  dazzling  and 
overwhelming  temptation,  exhibiting  as  the  reward  of 
wrongdoing  "  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the  glory 
of  them,"  may  rush  to  sudden  ruin  the  man  or  woman  who 
has  lived  a  normal  and  orderly  life  without  any  suspicion 
of  such  possibilities.  On  the  other  hand,  inspiration, 
a  sudden  appeal  to  the  better  fecHngs,  may  completely 
reverse  an  evil  course  and  redeem  the  wrongdoer.  Such 
extraordinary  changes  are  not  uncommon.  We  see  the 
drunkard  reformed  at  a  temperance  meeting  where  his 
feelings  have  been  greatly  roused.  We  see  the  thoroughly 
bad  man  repentant  and  revolutionizing  his  life  at  a  re- 
ligious revival. 

Religious  feeling  is  doubtless  the  strongest  of  the 


304  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

motives  that  can  be  used  for  reform  or  for  setting  young 
people  on  the  right  course.  The  McCaidey  Mission  in 
New  York  is  complete  evidence  of  the  power  of  such 
appeals.  The  work  of  the  revivalist  of  the  past  genera- 
tion, while  often  futile  and  misleading,  rested  upon  the 
sound  foundation  of  the  value  of  inspiration. 

Still  these  extreme  cases  of  sudden  turning  to  good  or 
evil  are  rare  for  the  ordinary  boy  and  girl.  The  develop- 
ment of  moral  character  is  usually  continuous  and  due 
to  en\dronment,  the  regular  daily  habit  of  life,  and  is  in- 
fluenced mainly  by  society,  the  society  of  elders,  the 
society  of  those  of  Hke  age,  and  the  society  of  books. 

Function  of  the  School.  —  Third,  ha\ing  before  us  the 
above  outlines  of  what  constitutes  moral  character  and 
what  moral  training  is,  and  what  are  the  main  influences 
to  be  relied  upon  in  the  development  of  character  in  the 
young,  we  must  consider  briefly  the  school  and  its  pos- 
sibilities in  this  direction. 

The  school  is  just  a  part  of  life.  It  is  an  institution, 
with  well  defined  rules  of  conduct  and  schemes  of  work. 
The  influences  that  affect  the  moral  development  of  the 
boys  and  girls  in  school  are  not  different  in  kind  from 
those  that  affect  it  outside  the  school.  The  variations 
are  merely  those  of  a  particular  institution.  In  school 
children  live  a  normal  institutional  Kfe  for  a  limited 
number  of  hours  daily,  in  personal  contact  with  at  least 
one  mature  mind  and  with  a  larger  number  of  equal 
age.  The  character  of  this  life  is  determined  partly  by 
the  character  of  these  associates,  partly  by  the  work  to 
be  done,  and  partly  by  the  motives  of  conduct  appealed 
to.  The  school  is  an  institution  whose  chief  manifest 
aim  is  instruction;  consequently  it  would  seem  natural 


Moral  Training  305 

that  here  instruction  in  moral  principles  and  maxims 
should  be  given.  But,  as  has  been  said,  the  school  is 
not  merely  an  institution  for  instruction.  It  is  a  large 
part  of  the  Hfe  of  the  child,  and  hence  it  is  a  place  where, 
in  addition  to  instruction,  feelings  should  be  cultivated, 
motives  developed,  and  conduct  regulated  in  obedience 
to  the  best  motives,  thus  evolving  conscience,  or  a  cor- 
rect habit  of  feehng,  and  also  moral  judgment,  —  the 
two  sources  and  regulators  of  conduct. 

What  then  can  the  school  do  ?  It  can  first,  and  chiefly,  - 
give  the  child  a  wholesome  environment,  a  normally 
good  and  morally  stimulating  atmosphere,  good  society, 
—  in  short,  a  good  Hfe.  There  is  a  certain  danger  in  ex- 
cessive moral  instruction,  the  danger  of  causing  the  child 
to  separate  morality  from  life.  Unhappily  a  very  large 
portion  of  the  religious  instruction  given  children  tends 
toward  this  danger.  They  get  the  notion  that  the  ex- 
periences that  count  for  goodness,  especially  in  what 
is  known  as  salvation,  are  quite  apart  from  the  daily 
life,  and  that  by  performing  certain  rites  they  secure  to 
themselves  immunity  for  unsocial,  and  hence  immoral, 
conduct.  The  counteracting  influence  for  this  is  a  life 
and  an  environment  wholly  moral. 

The  Teacher.  —  The  first  element  having  moral  bear- 
ing in  the  life  of  the  school  is  the  teacher.  It  certainly  is 
not  extreme  to  say  that  with  a  teacher  fundamentally  im- 
moral, that  is,  with  wrong  social  ideals  and  with  wrong  no- 
tions as  to  the  relation  between  convention  and  morality, 
that  with  such  a  teacher  a  school  cannot  be  other  than 
an  immoral  place.  But  on  the  other  hand,  association 
by  children  with  a  pure-minded,  high-minded  man  or 
woman,  who  directs  the  occupations,  sets  the  standard, 


3o6  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

and  becomes  the  ideal  of  the  children,  cannot  but  be 
moral.  The  best  teachers  in  the  moral  sense  might  be 
quite  incompetent  to  give  in  detail  much  moral  instruc- 
tion, and  those  competent  to  give  such  instruction  might 
be,  as  moral  influences  for  the  children,  among  the  worst. 
The  teacher  who  bosses,  who  scolds,  who  stirs  the  evil 
passions  of  children,  even  though  securing  "  perfect 
order,"  and  teaching  the  facts  of  the  curriculum  un- 
erringly, is  necessarily  a  bad  moral  influence.  The 
teacher  who  radiates  love,'  whose  life  in  the  school 
shows  devotion  to  principle,  to  work,  and  above  all  to 
the  children  themselves,  even  though  defective  in  many 
ways,  cannot,  from  the  moral  standpoint,  help  being  a 
good  teacher. 

Moral  Atmosphere.  —  It  is  to  the  teacher  that  the 
school  owes  what  we  know  as  its  atmosphere.  On  one 
occasion  some  teachers  were  gathered  on  invitation  in  a 
house  near  a  school  to  view  a  pyrotechnic  display.  Two 
little  children,  attendants  upon  the  kindergarten,  were 
quietly  playing  about  the  room  and  watching  the  gor- 
geous play  of  colors.  Suddenly  in  the  silence  the  teachers 
were  startled  to  hear  a  childish  voice  say,  "Oh,  thank 
you,  thank  you,  for  making  the  world  so  beautiful." 
The  principal  endeavored  to  find  the  source  of  such 
general  gratitude,  and  discovered  that  it  was  in  the  kin- 
dergarten, at  whose  head  was  a  woman  of  the  loveliest 
character,  radiating  gratitude  and  consideration  for 
others  continually.  In  other  words,  they  had  breathed 
the  moral  atmosphere  of  a  school  whose  motive  was  love, 
and  whose  teacher  was  its  ideal. 

Work  and  Motives  for  Work.  —  Next  to  the  teacher 
the  most  potent  influence  in  determining  the  moral  in- 


Moral  Training  307 

jfluence  of  school  is  the  work  done,  with  the  motives  pre- 
sented for  it.  Work  with  most  people  is  the  key  to  life 
and  conduct.  Our  moral  status  is  determined  very 
largely  by  the  work  we  are  engaged  in,  and  especially 
by  the  motives  that  we  set  before  ourselves  for  doing 
work.  The  complaint  is  very  common  that  our  people 
have  low  aims,  —  to  make  money  for  money's  sake,  or 
to  get  power  for  power's  sake,  —  that  the  effect  of  the  life 
work  of  the  average  man  or  woman  is  to  develop,  in- 
creasingly, selfishness.  Is  it  not  true  that  the  beginning 
of  such  degrading  tendencies  is  made  in  too  many  cases 
in  school  ?  The  child  who  is  led  to  study  for  marks  or 
prizes,  or  to  avoid  punishment,  is  on  the  road  to  a  low 
standard  of  living.  The  child  who  works  to  please  the 
teacher,  or  father  or  mother,  is  working  from  a  much 
higher  motive,  and  is  getting  a  much  better  habit  of  life. 
The  child  who  studies  that  he  may  use  his  acquired  knowl- 
edge in  some  half-realized  ideal  life  is  working  from  the 
highest  motives  and  is  on  the  road  to  altruistic  living. 
Children  should  work  with  an  ever  increasing  sense  of 
power  and  with  determination  to  do  their  best,  but  not 
with  any  feeling  of  petty  rivalry  or  hope  to  secure  ad- 
vantage over  other  pupils.  They  should  "  work  for 
excellence  rather  than  to  excel." 

Cooperation,  not  Solitude.  —  The  method  of  con- 
ducting the  school  work  should  be  such  as  to  develop 
a  spirit  of  cooperation.  The  artificial  and  unnatural 
solitude  of  each  child  in  the  average  schoolroom  is  im- 
moral. The  children  should  all  feel  that  the  recitation 
is  a  cooperative  exercise  in  which  they  are  not  trying 
to  show  off  what  they  individually  have  learned  from  a 
book,  but  are  each  contributing  his  best  to  the  general 


308  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

store  from  which  all  draw,  so  that  at  the  end  of  a  recita- 
tion every  child  will  have  done  something  for  the  common 
good,  and  "will  be  richer  himself  for  ha\dng  performed 
a  social  duty. 

Discipline.  —  The  third  moral  influence  of  the  school 
is  what  is  known  commonly  as  "  school  discipline," 
meaning  the  preservation  of  order,  of  silence,  and  the 
conserving  of  the  institutional  Kfe  of  the  school.  To 
many  it  may  seem  that  this  should  come  first.  But  it 
seems  to  me  that  the  order  of  the  school  should  first 
grow  out  of  the  teacher's  personaHty,  and  second,  out 
of  the  work  done.  The  chief  moral  value  of  formally 
kept  order  in  the  school  is  in  training  the  child  to  give 
proper  heed  to  the  conventions  of  any  institution  to  which 
he  may  belong. 

Importance  of  Conventional  Conduct.  —  From  what  I 
have  said  I  do  not  wish  at  all  to  be  understood  as  oppos- 
ing the  value  of  conventional  conduct.  Good  manners 
are  good  morals  to  a  degree.  The  rules  of  social  life 
are  in  the  main  for  the  preservation  of  .individual  rights 
and  for  making  easier  the  common  happiness.  This  gives 
them  high  moral  value.  Every  institution  has  its  con- 
ventions, which  are  at  least  supposed  to  be  important  to 
the  institution  and  to  those  connected  with  it.  There 
is  a  certain  kind  of  conduct  suitable  for  the  church,  an- 
other for  the  theater,  another  for  the  home,  and  still 
another  for  the  school.  These  conventions  may  have 
only  a  temporary  validity  and  may  not  extend  beyond  the 
bounds  of  the  institution  itself.  Still,  to  obey  them  while 
in  the  institution  tends  to  cultivate  the  habit  of  con- 
sideration for  others,  on  which  they  are  based. 

The  school  has  many  conventions,  some  of  them  un- 


Moral  Training  309 

fortunately  not  even  useful  to  the  school  itself,  and  most 
of  them  having  no  apphcation  to  hfe  outside  the  school. 
Manifestly  the  number  of  such  conventions  should  be 
reduced  to  the  actual  necessities  of  the  school,  and  obe- 
dience to  them  should  be  based  upon  the  fact  that  they 
are  good  for  that  particular  institution,  and  therefore 
for  the  pupils,  who  both  belong  to  and  own  the  school, 
and  hence  that  such  obedience  is  moral.  The  mistake  of 
many  advocates  of  moral  instruction  in  school  is  that 
they  have  confused  the  conventional  conduct  of  the  school 
with  morality  itself,  and  fail  to  see  that  the  sole  moral 
value  of  such  conduct  is  in  estabhshing  the  mental  con- 
dition required  by  institutional  life  in  general. 

School  Virtues.  —  Even  certain  great  leaders,  notably 
Dr.  William  T.  Harris  and  Dr.  E.  E.  White,  used  to 
claim  that  the  schools  were  great  moral  agencies  because 
they  taught  the  school  virtues,  chief  among  which  were 
silence,  obedience,  punctuaHty,  and  neatness.  Now  these 
are,  to  a  degree,  no  doubt,  school  virtues,  but  their  ap- 
plication to  life  outside  of  the  school  is  extremely  lim- 
ited, and  their  chief,  if  not  their  sole,  value  rests  upon 
that  fact  that  they  are  good  for  the  school,  and  that 
children  should  do  what  is  good  for  any  institution  to 
which  they  belong. 

Let  us  consider  them  briefly : 

Silence.  —  There  are  doubtless  occasions  when  silence 
is  a  real  virtue.  Many  a  man  aflflicted  with  a  talkative 
bore  realizes  that.  But  certainly  there  are  many  occa- 
sions when  it  would  be  a  cowardly  vice,  and  even  in 
school  it  has  been  pushed  to  harmful  extremes.  Still- 
ness usually  indicates  not  industry,  but  the  opposite. 
The  corpse  observes  absolute  silence.     To  make  much 


3IO  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

of  silence  as  a  virtue  inculcated  by  the  school  is  to  show 
a  lack  of  sense  of  moral  values. 

Obedience.  —  Consider  obedience.  It  has  a  wider 
application  than  silence,  and  is  in  many  cases  a  genuine 
\'irtue,  but  in  modern  life  and  in  democracy  obedience  to 
the  inner  moral  law  is  vastly  more  important  than  obedi- 
ence to  the  outer  law  of  convention.  Authority  has  lost 
its  power  in  the  world  to  a  very  large  extent.  The  per- 
son who  obeys  unquestioningly  may  be  doing  right,  he 
may  be  doing  wrong.  No  adult  capable  of  reasoning 
upon  moral  questions  should  obey  unquestioningly 
except  in  minor  matters  of  conventional  routine.  The 
boss,  whether  political  or  pedagogical,  demands  un- 
questioning obedience,  not  because  of  its  moral  value, 
but  because  it  is  personally  convenient  to  him  and  his 
purposes.  The  training  of  the  school  should  develop 
questioning  obedience  rather  than  unquestioning  obedi- 
ence. j\Ioral  questions  occurring  for  the  first  time  should 
be  submitted  to  a  trained,  broad,  moral  judgment. 
When  that  has  rendered  its  decision,  it  should  so  appeal 
to  the  properly  cultivated  feelings  that  the  will  will 
obey  without  hesitation  and  as  from  habit. 

There  is  a  moral  law  within  to  which  obedience  must 
always  be  rendered.  There  is  a  conventional  law  with- 
out to  which  obedience  should  be  rendered  when  it  does 
not  conflict  with  the  law  ^vithin,  but  not  otherwise. 

There  is  another  condition  that  has  an  important  bear- 
ing on  the  value  of  obedience  as  a  virtue.  Continual 
reliance  upon  the  will  of  another  is  weakening.  The  boy 
or  girl  who  has  been  simply  obeying  the  behests  of  a 
sup>erior  unthinkingly,  although  his  conduct  may  have 
been  perfectly  regular  and  proper,  is  likely  to  lack  moral 


Moral  Training  31I 

judgment  and  strength  of  purpose.  His  life  has  done 
nothing  to  give  him  the  power  to  discriminate.  Hence 
the  exaltation  of  obedience  as  the  great  school  virtue 
may  develop  moral  weakness.  It  certainly  furnishes 
slight  basis  for  confidence  in  the  future  welfare  of  demo- 
cratic society.  Respect  for  law,  as  representing  the 
composite  will  of  the  community  looking  toward  general 
good,  is  something  to  be  cultivated  mth  the  utmost  care. 
It  is  a  little  different  from  respect  for  laws.  It  is  very 
different  from  obedience  to  arbitrary  commands,  such  as 
the  pedagogical  boss  expects  from  his  school. 

Order  there  must  be  in  school,  but  an  order  that  springs 
from  an  appreciation  by  the  pupils  of  the  fact  that  the 
school  is  a  social  institution  belonging  to  them,  that  it  is 
for  the  common  good,  that  they  are  responsible  to  their 
own  consciences  as  well  as  to  the  board  of  education  for 
maintaining  the  institution  upon  a  plane  consistent  with 
its  high  purpose.  The  degree  of  order  required  to  ac- 
complish best  the  work  of  the  school,  to  enable  each  in- 
dividual to  do  his  business  efficiently,  can  easily  be  main- 
tained if  the  students  are  led  to  realize  its  importance  to 
themselves  as  well  as  to  others.  There  is  always  dan- 
ger that  enforced  order  will  come  to  be  worshiped  as  an 
idol,  and  this,  like  all  substitution  of  lower  ends  for  higher, 
is  morally  debasing. 

Briefly,  the  order  of  the  school  should  grow  out  of 
obedience  to  the  commonly  recognized  needs  of  the  school 
as  voiced  by  the  teacher,  in  whom  the  pupils  have  con- 
fidence, and  as  understood  by  themselves. 

Punctuality.  —  The  third  of  the  vaunted  school  virtues 
is  punctuality.  Little  need  be  said  upon  this.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  it  is  an  economic  rather  than  a  moral  virtue. 


312  What  Children   Study  and  Why- 

It  has  certain  relations  to  what  is  called  success  in  life  and 
at  times  has  a  moral  value  because  of  its  effect  upon  other 
people.  It  is  desirable,  of  course,  and  to  a  large  degree 
necessary  to  the  well-being  of  the  school  as  an  institution. 
But  it  can  easily  be  over-emphasized.  Children  not  in- 
frequently will  stay  away  from  school  altogether  rather 
than  come  tardy  and  face  the  angry  teacher.  They  will 
come  to  school  without  proper  food  and  without  proper 
care  of  the  body  rather  than  be  late.  One  may  say  that 
all  that  is  needed  here  is  common  sense.  But  common 
sense  is  not  so  very  common,  and  the  exaltation  of  an 
act  of  minor  economic  importance  into  a  moral  virtue  pro- 
duces distortion  of  vision  and  lack  of  sense. 

Neatness.  —  The  fourth  standard  virtue  to  be  urged 
by  the  old-time  moralist  was  neatness,  —  neatness  of 
person  and  neatness  of  work.  Neatness  is  of  great  value. 
It  is  a  hygienic  virtue,  and  it  is  also  an  economic  virtue. 
Indirectly  too  it  has  a  moral  value.  Still  it  belongs  in 
the  field  of  petty  accomplishments  wath  which  the  small 
mind  satisfies  itself  of  its  own  greatness.  When  urged 
in  school,  as  it  must  be,  it  should  be  for  reasons  clearly 
expressed  relating  to  the  general  good. 

Ex-idently  these  four  school  virtues,  which  our  elders 
thought  were  the  great  moral  contribution  of  the  school 
to  the  development  of  the  child  and  of  society,  are  hardly 
big  enough  under  democratic  conditions  to  deserve  all 
this  praise.  Admitting  their  very  considerable  value, 
the  school  must  develop  virtues  of  a  much  higher  sort,  or 
it  will  not  be  the  safe  reliance  that  it  is  supposed  to  be. 

School  a  Life.  —  This  brings  us  then  clearly  to  the  heart 
of  the  matter.  School  to  a  child  is  a  phase  of  life,  a  very 
important  and  often  a  controlhng  phase.    It  is  an  epitome 


Moral  Training  313 

of  life  itself.  That  which  gives  it  moral  quality  is  that 
which  gives  moral  quality  to  the  Hfe  of  the  child's  parents ; 
namely,  motive  following  sound  judgment  and  leading 
to  conduct.  The  controlling  influences  are  the  same, 
which  are  chiefly  society  and  literature  as  sources  of 
ideals,  and  occupation,  modifying,  directing,  and  con- 
trolling, to  a  very  large  extent,  the  ideals,  and  hence  the 
motives  and  the  conduct.  Besides  its  general  char- 
acter, school  life  is  also  life  in  an  institution,  which 
makes  it  an  even  more  complete  epitome  of  the  larger 
life. 

Occupation.  —  In  order  that  this  school  life  may  have 
the  highest  moral  value,  the  occupation  must  be  rec- 
ognized as  worth  while ;  it  must  be  pursued  for  worthy 
motives,  and  the  conduct  of  the  child  must  be  regulated 
so  as  to  further  the  pursuit  of  the  occupation. 

Society.  —  The  society  must  be  such  that  the  child 
receives  from  the  teacher  the  best  model  possible  for  him- 
self ;  from  his  fellow  pupils,  help,  encouragement,  and 
stimulation  toward  right  doing. 

Pupil  a  Contributor.  —  Most  important  of  all,  his 
life  in  this  society  must  be  not  that  of  a  mere  recipient, 
but  also  that  of  a  contributor.  The  one  lesson  of  over- 
whelming importance  for  every  child  in  school  is  that 
the  school  is  a  society,  not  only  to  which  he  belongs,  but 
which  belongs  to  him,  and  that  it  is  an  important  factor 
in  his  life,  that  his  business  is  not  merely  to  learn  his 
lessons  and  get  the  most  possible  from  school,  but  to 
contribute  both  in  personal  conduct  and  in  influence  the 
best  that  he  can  toward  making  the  school  a  good  place 
for  all.  It  is  the  world  in  httle,  and  there  is  no  better 
place  to  be  founds  unless  it  be  the  ideal  family,  for  de- 


314  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

veloping  the  sense  of  responsibility  for  the  common  wel- 
fare than  a  good  school. 

Altruistic  Schools  Possible.  —  Unhappily  too  many 
schools  fail  wholly  to  cultivate  this  highest  virtue  of 
altruism  and  devotion.  The  teacher  controls.  The  mo- 
tives presented  to  the  children  are  selfish ;  at  the  worst,  to 
win  prizes  or  marks,  or  to  avoid  punishment;  at  the  best, 
to  get  knowledge.  But  schools  upon  the  higher  plane 
are  not  unknown.  If  the  personahty  of  the  teacher  is 
right  and  he  understands  his  business,  they  are  not  hard 
to  get.  And  besides,  in  such  schools,  along  with  the  higher 
ideals  and  the  better  training,  through  the  marvelous 
law  of  compensation,  the  children  learn  more  and  acquire 
more  power. 

Illustrations.  —  There  is  not  space  here  to  give  in 
detail  a  scheme  for  developing  moral  responsibility  in 
school,  but  every  teacher  who  grasps  the  spirit  can  work 
out  his  own  scheme.  Illustrations  worthy  of  notice  are 
such  institutions  as  the  George  Junior  Republic,  where 
even  social  delinquents  are  made  socially  responsible 
by  being  forced  to  carry  responsibility.  Another  good 
illustration  is  found  in  the  self-governing  school,  fre- 
quently in  the  form  of  a  school  city,  by  which  large  num- 
bers of  children,  many  of  them  of  foreign  birth,  are 
trained  to  that  standard  of  good  citizenship  that  makes 
more  of  duty  than  of  privilege.  For  the  basis  of  good 
citizenship  is,  not  chiefly  obedience  to  the  external  law, 
but  rather  obedience  to  the  internal  law,  the  law  of  love, 
whose  motto  is  "  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to 
receive,"  and  this  can  be  inculcated  in  school. 

As  has  been  said,  the  above  constitutes  the  most  im- 
portant possible  contribution  of  the  school  to  the  moral 


Moral  Training  315 

education  of  its  pupils, — living  a  good  life  for  worthy  ends 
earnestly  pursued  in  good  society,  actuated  by  the  spirit 
of  the  true  citizen,  feeling  the  responsibility  for  the  general 
good,  and  contributing  their  best  to  it.  This,  more  than 
instruction,  develops  moral  judgment,  rouses  right  feel- 
ing, stimulates  worthy  motives,  and  leads  to  right  action, 
and  hence  it  is  the  great  function  of  the  school  from  the 
moral  point  of  \dew. 

Moral  Instruction.  —  How  to  give  wisely  definite  in- 
struction in  morals  is  a  very  hard  question.  To  give 
instruction  that  shall  be  directly  applicable  to  life,  that 
shall  not  seem  to  make  a  separation  between  morals  and 
conduct,  that  shall  not  tend  to  make  prigs  and  pharisees, 
is  no  easy  matter. 

Attempts  at  Courses.  —  Various  attempts  have  been 
made  and  courses  outhned,  but  none  that  I  have  seen 
have  been  more  than  partially  satisfactory.  Perhaps  the 
best  is  that  used  at  the  Ethical  Culture  School  in  New 
York  City.  This  contains  many  excellent  features,  and 
teachers  interested  would  do  well  to  obtain  a  copy.  In 
my  judgment  the  course  is  as  yet  too  mechanical,  too 
catechetical,  and  falls  short  of  the  kind  of  knowledge 
that  rouses  feeling  and  develops  motive.  The  best  that 
it  does,  it  seems  to  me,  is  to  help  in  the  training  of  moral 
judgment,  and  that  is  excellent.  It  is  good  as  far  as  it 
goes. 

A  course  has  recently  been  issued  by  Professor  Sharp 
of  the  University  of  Wisconsin  and  Professor  Neuman  of 
the  Ethical  Culture  School  of  New  York,  for  use  in  high 
schools.  This  is  an  easier  undertaking  than  to  provide 
a  course  for  elementary  schools,  because  the  pupils  are 
older,  more  capable  of  reasoning,  and  are  at  the  period 


3i6  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

of  second  birth,  when  they  are  reaching  out  eagerly  for 
ideals.  This  course  has  many  excellent  features,  and  is 
certainly  worth  study  by  any  teacher  planning  to  give  in- 
struction in  morals.  The  first- year  work  is  perhaps  the 
best,  in  that  it  aims  to  stimulate  motives  and  create  ideals. 
The  courses  for  the  later  years,  though  having  many 
excellencies,  fall  short  in  this  respect  and  seem  rather 
mechanical.  Their  chief  aim  apparently  is  to  develop 
the  moral  judgment,  and  that,  as  said  above,  is  good  as 
far  as  it  goes. 

General  Course  Impossible.  —  I  am  not  sure  that  a 
general  course  for  the  use  of  teachers  in  elementary 
schools  is  possible.  At  least  none  has  yet  been  offered 
that  is  satisfactory. 

Possibilities  of  the  School.  —  What  can  the  school  as 
at  present  organized  and  manned  do  ?  The  first  difficulty 
is  in  the  limitations  of  the  teacher  herself.  Our  teachers 
as  a  class  are  of  the  highest  quality  morally.  I  doubt  if 
any  other  body  of  people  in  the  world  have  as  high  moral 
ideals  as  the  teachers.  But  in  this  country  a  very  large 
majority  of  them  are  young  girls  of  immature  minds  and 
limited  experience,  hardly  capable  of  grasping  the  great 
moral  questions  of  hfe  so  completely  as  to  fit  them  to  im- 
part them  again.  The  most  that  can  be  expected  of 
these  young  people  is  that  they  shall  teach  the  children 
in  a  simple  way  the  plain  conventional  moralities,  and 
with  the  little  children  that  is  perhaps  enough.  They  can 
teach  them  the  school  virtues  of  promptness,  obedience, 
neatness,  and  silence.  They  can  tell  them  to  keep  their 
hands  and  faces  clean,  not  to  use  bad  language,  to  be 
polite,  and  all  the  other  common  and  necessary  forms  of 
virtuous  conduct  for  children.     But  even  this  cannot  well 


Moral  Training  3 17 

be  done  systematically.  It  must  be  done  upon  occasion. 
The  time  to  teach  a  child  to  be  clean  is  when  he  is  dis- 
posed to  be  dirty,  to  teach  him  to  obey  is  when  he  is 
inclined  to  be  disobedient,  to  emphasize  punctuality  is 
when  there  arises  a  tendency  to  tardiness,  and  to  teach 
the  importance  of  silence  is  when  he  is  disposed  to  talk 
too  much.  The  watchful  teacher  will  take  advantage  of 
the  opportunities  that  rise  continually  in  school  to  im- 
press these  simple  virtues,  and  by  so  doing  will  impress 
them  much  more  effectively  than  if  she  takes  a  book  and 
on  Monday  teaches  silence,  on  Tuesday  punctuality,  on 
Wednesday  obedience,  on  Thursday  neatness,  reviews 
on  Friday  and  repeats  next  week. 

Value  of  Discussion.  —  The  wise  teacher  will  not  only 
teach  these  things  as  occasion  arises,  but  she  will  not  rely 
wholly  upon  authority  for  inculcating  them.  She  will 
talk  over  with  the  pupils  instances,  real  or  imaginary, 
which  illustrate  what  she  would  teach,  will  encourage 
them  to  discuss  among  themselves  why  children  should 
be  on  time  and  should  be  clean  and  should  obey  the 
rules,  and  should  not  talk  when  others  are  talking  or 
when  it  will  disturb  those  who  want  to  study.  In  this 
way  she  will  cultivate  their  moral  judgment;  and  also  by 
putting  emphasis  upon  the  rights  of  others,  upon  the 
harm  that  the  tardy  pupil  and  the  disobedient  pupil 
and  the  dirty  pupil  and  the  noisy  pupil  do  to  others, 
she  will  develop  the  social  sense  and  the  sense  of  obliga- 
tion for  the  general  good.  Any  good,  bright  girl  fit  to 
be  a  teacher  can  do  these  things.  But  if  you  put  into 
her  hands  a  catechism  and  instruct  her  to  teach  funda- 
mental morals  from  a  book  she  is  likely  to  break  down. 
The  difficulty  increases  as  the  pupils  advance  in  age,  are 


3l8  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

better  able  to  reason,  and  need  more  and  more  to  under- 
stand the  underhdng  principles.  Very  few  teachers  are 
competent  to  do  this  work  as  it  should  be  done. 

Lack  of  Material.  —  Here  begins  the  need  for  books 
and  other  means  of  instruction,  and  here  again  we  are  up 
against  a  blank  wall.  There  are  no  books  and  there  are 
no  means  of  instruction,  excepting  such  as  are  furnished 
by  occasion  or  may  be  adapted  from  other  uses,  and  as 
I  have  said,  there  are  no  courses  of  study  that  more  than 
approximately  cover  the  field.  The  Bible,  which  would 
be  altogether  the  best  textbook  under  present  conditions, 
cannot  be  used,  strangely  enough,  not  because  of  opposi- 
tion from  atheists  or  agnostics,  but  from  the  very  people 
who  are  clamoring  for  religious  instruction,  —  apparently 
because  they  fear  that  some  church  not  their  own  will 
catch  the  product,  and  it  is  better  to  let  children  grow  up 
in  ignorance  of  the  Bible  than  to  have  them  join  any  other 
church  than  "  ours." 

Religious  Instruction  Impossible.  —  Religious  instruc- 
tion is  out  of  the  question.  It  is  not  necessary  to  dis- 
cuss its  value  here,  because  under  the  constitutions  of 
our  nation  and  states,  and  especially  in  view  of  prevail- 
ing sentiment,  it  cannot  be  given  in  pubHc  schools. 
Doubtless,  too,  that  is  wise,  because  the  teachers  are  very 
few  who  could  teach  religion  divorced  from  sectarianism. 
(It  is  much  easier,  and  hence  much  more  common,  to 
teach  it  divorced  from  conduct.) 

Conduct,  Individual.  —  Further,  it  is  by  no  means  cer- 
tain that  a  general  course  in  morals,  even  if  ideal,  would 
accomplish  the  good  hoped  for.  Conduct  is  so  largely 
an  individual  matter,  environment  creates  such  par- 
ticular needs,  that  it  is  not  certain  that  the  instruction 


Moral  Training  319 

given  should  not  be  specially  and  locally  adapted.  The 
great  foundation  principles  of  love,  of  the  duties  that  we 
owe  to  others,  of  devotion,  of  self  sacrifice,  of  democracy 
of  spirit,  naturally  should  underlie  all  instruction,  but 
these  cannot  be  imparted  by  instruction.  They  must 
appear  in  life,  and  in  so  far  as  they  appear  in  instruc- 
tion, they  must  be  simply  the  spirit  and  the  inspiration. 

Use  of  Stories  and  Poems.  —  Perhaps  the  easiest  way 
to  produce  the  desired  moral  impressions  is  through 
literature,  —  poems  and  stories,  both  fictional  and  real, 
adapted  to  the  children's  needs,  with  the  moral  not  stated, 
but  implied.  Stories  of  heroism,  stories  of  sacrifice, 
stories  of  nobihty  of  conduct,  stories  of  the  struggle  of 
great  men  to  achieve  places  of  usefulness,  tend  to  rouse 
and  foster  ideals.  Such  stories  in  the  first  place  should 
not  tell  of  virtue  rewarded  and  vice  punished.  We  have 
had  altogether  too  much  of  "  Honesty  is  the  best  policy," 
"  Be  good  and  you  will  be  happy,"  and  "  Murder  will 
out,"  —  time-worn  lies  that  vitiate  the  moral  sense. 
Moral  training  must  rest  upon  other  grounds  than  the 
hope  of  reward  or  the  fear  of  punishment.  It  must  grow 
out  of  ideals  and  feehngs  leading  to  conduct  itself  and  not 
considering  either  the  price  paid  or  the  reward  sought. 

Models  should  be  Great  Servants.  —  The  men  whose 
names  are  used  as  models  should  be  those  who  have  con- 
tributed rather  than  those  who  have  simply  got  rich,  — 
Moses  who  gave  up  Hfe  at  court  to  help  his  people  and 
was  great,  not  because  he  was  their  general,  but  because 
of  his  sacrifice  for  them;  Jesus,  whose  whole  life  was 
sacrifice;  the  apostles  and  missionaries  to  the  western 
world ;  among  the  explorers  of  this  country,  not  Cortez 
and  the  others  who  sought  riches,  but  the  priests  who 


320  What  Children  Study  and  Why 

came  to  redeem  the  savages ;  among  Englishmen,  not 
Wellington  and  Nelson,  but  Howard,  John  Bright,  and 
Gladstone ;  among  our  own  people,  not  our  successful 
multimillionaires,  but  Washington,  Lincoln,  Lee,  John 
Eliot,  Dr.  Lazur,  and  Dr.  Blue. 

In  the  field  of  fiction  we  should  have  optimistic  stories 
showing  the  same  spirit.  For  young  children,  the 
Fairy  Stories  of  Grimm  are  mostly  objectionable,  be- 
cause they  are  immoral,  while  those  of  Andersen  are 
excellent. 

Principal  should  Prepare  Local  Course.  —  But,  as  is 
evident,  this  is  all  indirect  instruction.  How  can  we 
make  it  direct?  Chiefly  by  discussion  with  the  class. 
My  suggestion  is  that  for  the  present  at  least  each  school 
principal  interested  in  the  subject  prepare  a  course  suited 
to  the  children  of  his  locality,  talk  it  over  with  the  teachers, 
select  suitable  Hterature  to  illustrate  the  virtues  that  he 
thinks  the  children  most  lack ;  and  if  necessary  prepare 
outlines  for  the  grades,  simply  to  be  used  as  guides  by 
the  teachers  in  talking  over  the  stories  with  the  children. 
The  stories  in  all  cases  should  be  such  as  to  rouse  a  feel- 
ing of  admiration  for  the  one  possessing  the  virtue,  which 
should  be  transferred  into  a  love  for  the  virtue  itself, 
the  latter  by  discussion.  All  such  discussion  should  be 
free,  though  carefully  guided  by  the  teacher,  and  under 
this  guidance  the  thought  of  the  children  should  be 
taken  back  constantly  to  the  underlying  principle  of  all 
morality,  love  for  others,  and  a  desire  to  lend  a  hand  on  all 
possible  occasions. 

In  this  way  in  the  towns  and  cities  a  great  deal  of 
valuable  material  would  be  gathered,  and  at  least  the 
beginnings  made,  of  a  course  of  instruction  in  morals. 


Moral  Training  321 

Naturally  those  who  were  working  out  such  a  course  would 
want  to  confer  with  others  doing  the  same  thing,  and  the 
result  would  be  a  consensus  of  opinion  and  in  time  a  cer- 
tain degree  of  harmony  in  material  and  method,  which 
would  take  the  moral  training  of  the  children  in  schools 
out  of  the  haphazard  class  and  make  it  definite  and  pur- 
poseful, though  not  fixed  and  mechanical. 

Rural  Schools.  —  In  the  rural  schools  and  the  near 
rural  schools,  where  generally  there  is  little  supervision, 
each  teacher  will  have  to  do  what  she  can,  and  here  is 
where  a  good  textbook,  if  a  good  textbook  is  possible, 
would  do  the  most  good.  But  even  the  rural  schools 
have  a  certain  amount  of  supervision  in  most  cases  from 
the  county  superintendent,  who  could  outline  a  course 
affecting  rural  conditions  which  the  teachers  could  use. 

Necessity  for  Empiricism. — It  is  true  that  this  is  all 
empirical,  but  it  is  only  by  such  empirical  work  that  we 
can  hope  to  arrive  at  results  at  all  satisfactory  or  even 
permanent.  The  committee  that  starts  out  now  to  make 
a  course  of  study  for  formal  instruction  in  morals  can  do 
nothing  more  than  follow  precedent,  and  is  very  sure  to 
be  at  the  end  far  away  from  the  lives  of  the  children,  but 
a  local  course  growing  out  of  an  appreciation  of  the  needs 
of  the  pupils  will  be  vital,  and  in  the  hands  of  a  wise 
teacher  very  useful,  and  from  many  such  courses  some 
results  may  be  obtained  that  will  be  of  general  value. 

Conclusion  and  Resume.  —  In  conclusion,  it  must  be 
apparent  to  any  who  have  had  the  patience  to  read  this 
chapter  that  it  is  the  author's  belief  that  the  main  busi- 
ness of  the  school  in  regard  to  the  morals  of  children  is  to 
supply  them  with  a  good  life,  consisting  of  good  occupa- 
tion, engaged  in  for  good  motives,  and  pursued  under 


322  What  Children   Study  and  Why 

the  stimulation  of  proper  incentives ;  that  the  atmosphere 
must  be  pure  and  sweet  and  inspiring,  the  teacher  "good 
society  "  for  the  children,  and  the  social  life  of  the  school 
cooperative,  unselfish,  and  for  the  common  good ;  that 
through  this  life  children  may  be  trained  to  democracy, 
which  in  its  last  analysis  is  not  a  form  of  government, 
but  is  a  state  of  mind. 

The  author  further  beheves  that  formal  instruction, 
while  of  secondary  importance,  is  important,  but  under 
present  conditions  it  is  not  possible  to  say  just  how  it 
should  be  given.  Religious  dogma  cannot  be  used.  The 
catechetical  form  of  instruction  long  ago  ceased  to  exert 
much  influence.  There  is  Kttle  already  prepared  material 
for  direct  instruction  available.  There  are  no  textbooks 
that  are  satisfactory,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  any  can  be 
made  that  will  be  of  general  use.  The  best  course  for 
the  present  seems  to  be  for  local  centers  to  provide  their 
own  courses,  relying  much  on  literature  and  biography 
and  upon  class  discussions  of  the  stories  and  poems, 
with  the  hope  that  out  of  many  such  local  courses,  in 
time  something  of  more  general  usefulness  may  be 
evolved. 


INDEX 


Activities,    motor,    in    expres- 
sion, 226. 
range  of,  229. 
Adaptable  course,  6. 
Administration    of    curriculum, 
differences    desirable, 

3- 
Esthetic  nature,  appeal  of  fine 

arts  to,  263. 
Age  of  choice  of  industry,  250. 
Aim,  unity  of,  4. 
Algebra  in  arithmetic,  121,  140. 
Alphabet,  the,  17. 
Alphabetical  method  of  teaching 

reading,  36. 
Altruistic  schools,  314. 
Analysis  and  synthesis  of  words, 
18. 

of  letters  in  writing,  224. 

place  of,  in  word  method,  45. 
Apperceiving   centers   in   geog- 
raphy, 1 88. 
Appreciation  of  Literature,  64. 

grammar,  training  in,  86. 

reading  with,  51. 
Areas,  brain,  234. 
Arithmetic,  108. 

and  efficiency,  287. 

algebra  in,  121,  140. 

concrete  presentation  of,  130. 

cultural  value  of,  119,  142. 

drill,  128,  132. 

enrichment    of    content    in, 
,  123,  142. 

equation  introduced  in,  141. 
•     fixed  unit  in  fractions,  137. 

fundamental  principles,  109. 

geometry  in,  122. 

inductive  approach,  136. 


limitation  of   concrete  pres- 
entation, 130. 
method,   concrete   presenta- 
tion, 130. 
varies  with  age,  129. 
methods  of  instruction,  127, 

135- 
time  element  in,  127. 
minimum  required  for  prac- 
tical need,  113. 
motor  activities  in,  242. 
order  of  presentation,  132. 
unknown  quantity  and  equa- 
tion, 140. 
utilitarian  end  of,  112,  128. 
Arts,  all  necessary,  228. 

of  expression,  why  teach,  2  29. 
fine,  260. 

appeal  to  aesthetic  nature, 

263. 
development  of  taste,  271. 
feed  the  soul  through  the 

eyes,  273. 
plastic  and  graphic,  266. 
singing,  begin  with  songs, 

264. 
two  aspects  of,  262. 
Atmosphere,  moral,  306. 
Authority  in  moral  training,  299. 
Avebury,  Lord,  quotations  from, 
199. 

Baily,  L.  H.,  quotations  from, 

198. 
Barren  subject,  grammar  a,  57. 
Basis    of    method    in    teaching 

reading,  34. 
Beauty  of  Life,  200. 
Best  way  of  teaching,  a,  34. 


323 


3H 


Index 


Bible,  the,  and  conduct,  29S. 
Body  of  knowledge  in  course,  10. 
Books  interpret  life,  289. 
Brain  areas,  234. 
Bryant,  W.  C,  quotations  from, 
205. 

Carlyle  vs.  Freeman,  163. 
Center,  local,  in  teaching  history, 

164. 
Character,  basis  of,  210. 
ChUd,  history  for  the,  160. 
Children,  —  how  learn,  44. 

how  learn  language,  66. 

interest    of,    in    geography, 
192. 
Chronology  in  history,  153,  156. 
Chubb,  Percival,  opinion  quoted, 

77- 
City  and  country  in  geography, 

192. 
Clarifying  thought,  devices  for, 

74. 
Colleges,  history  in,  158. 
Complete  discourse  important, 

74- 

Comprehension  of  literature 
aided  by  language  in- 
struction, 60. 

Concepts,  geographic,  of  a  child 
untaught,  173. 
geographic,  of  a  child  taught, 

176. 
geographic,  important,  177. 

Conduct,  individual,  318. 
order  of  procedure  in,  297. 

Content  in  arithmetic,  enrich- 
ment of,  123,  142. 

Continuation  school  for  indus- 
trial training,  254. 

Continued  discourse  important, 

71- 

Cooking  and  sewing,  first  indus- 
trial subjects,  249. 

Coordination,  need  of,  in  motor 
activities,  236, 


Copying  in  drawing,  267. 
Correlation  of  studies,  275. 
of  hygiene  in  physiology,  215. 
in  nature  study,  204. 
necessary,  51. 
with  language  needed,  80. 
Counting,  the  first  step  in  num- 
bers, no. 
Country  and  city  in  geography, 

192. 
Course  of  study  adaptable,  6. 
functions,  i. 

includes  body  of  knowledge 
and  range  of  activities, 
10. 
not  too  easy  to  comprehend,9. 
suggestive,  7. 

two  phases  of,  228. 
Courses    in    moral    instruction, 

315- 
for  moral  instruction,  local, 
320. 
Cultural    value    of    arithmetic, 

119,  142. 
Culture  element  in  history,  the, 

161. 
Curricvdimi,  growth  of,  57. 
content  and  form,  282. 
topics  none  dominant,  281. 
topics  composite,  278. 

Daily  programs,  should  be  made 

by  teachers,  8. 
Decline  in  language  power,  68. 
Defectives  and  motor  activities, 

235- 

Definitions  in  grammar,  89. 
difficult,  90. 

Development  epoch   theory  in 
history,  154. 

Diagram  in  grammar,  92. 

"Disciphne"   and  moral  train- 
ing, 308. 

Discourse,  importance  of,  con- 
tinued, 71. 
complete,  74. 


Index 


325 


Doer,  value  of  the,  227. 
Dominance,  the,  of  grammar,  57. 

evils  of,  62. 
Drama  in  school,  244. 
Drawing,  266. 

a  language,  268. 

begin  with  pictures,  269. 

copying  in,  267. 

must  fit  children,  269. 

Ear  minded,  19. 

Economic  function  of  course  of 

study,  I. 
Educational  function  of  course 

of  study,  7. 
"Educational,"     meaning      of, 

237. 
Efficiency  in  curriculum,  283. 
in  teaching  arithmetic,  287. 
in  teaching  geography,  284. 
Elimination  of  topics  in  geog- 
raphy, 185. 
Emerson,     R.     W.,     quotation 

from,  199. 
Emphasis  in  reading  aloud,  53. 
Empiricism    in    moral    instruc- 
tion, 321. 
English  language  instruction,  56. 
English  not  phonetic,  41. 
Enunciation,  27. 

correction  of,  28. 
Environment,  influence  of,  302. 

in  geography,  178. 
Expression,  why  teach  arts  of, 
229. 
free,  75. 

motor  activities  in,  226,  233. 
Eye  minded,  19. 

Fads,  value  of,  260. 

Farmers,  training,  258. 

Field  excursions  for  nature  study, 

202. 
Fine  arts,  ^260. 

appeal  to  aesthetic    nature, 

263. 


development  of  taste,  271. 

feed  the    soul    through    the 
eyes,  273. 

functions  of,  261. 

plastic  and  graphic,  266. 
appreciation,  266. 

two  aspects  of,  262. 
Form  and  content,  282, 
Fractions,  136. 
Free  expression,  75. 
Freeman  vs.  Carlyle,  163. 
Functions  of  course  of  study,  i. 

economic,  i. 

educational,  7. 
Function,  grammar  should  treat 
of,  88. 

General  history  needed,  151. 
GeneraHzations,  danger  of,  161, 
Geography,  171. 

apperceiving  centers  in,  188. 
city  and  country  in,  192. 
concepts  by  a  child  untaught, 

173,  176. 
concepts,  important,  177. 
conglomerate,  171. 
depends  on  imagination,  174. 
duty  of  superintendent,  193. 
duty  of  teacher,  193. 
efficiency,  284. 
for  grammar  grades,  188. 
for  primary  grades,  183. 
elimination  and  selection 

of  topics,  185. 
follow  natural  interests  in, 

187. 
laboratory     method     in 

teaching,  the,  186. 
should  extend  knowledge, 

184. 
should  give  few  facts,  183. 
study  of  types,  184. 
fundamental  defects  in  teach- 
ing, 172. 
influence  of  environment,  178. 
one  book,  285. 


326 


Index 


Geography, 

physical  features,  study  of, 
179. 
— -pictures  in,  180. 

school  children  still  children, 
191. 

selection  of  topics  in,  172. 

should  be  picturesque,  180. 

what  interestschildren  in,  192. 
Geometry  in  arithmetic,  122. 

motor  activities  in,  242. 
Gestures,  the  earliest  language, 

243- 
Grades,  higher,  neglect  of  lan- 
guage in,  79. 
Grady,    Henry    W.,    quotation 

from,  78. 
Grammar,  English,  82. 

a  barren  subject,  57. 

a  science,  58. 

and  language  differentiated, 
58. 

definitions,  8g. 

dominance  of,  57,  62. 

for  children,  88. 

higher  functions  of,  84. 

methods  of  instruction  in,  88. 

notion,  61. 

place  of,  63. 

relation,  study  of,  96. 

should  treat  of  functions,  88. 

teaching  should  be  inductive. 

Grammar  grades,  history  in,  157. 
Grasp    of    thought    in    reading 

aloud,  51. 
Gregory,  B.  C.,  opinion  quoted, 

lOI. 

Grouping,  need  of,  in  history, 

169. 
Growth  of  curriculum,  57. 
Guild  notion  in  industrial  schools, 

255- 

Habits    acquired    by   language 
instruction,  61. 


Hallock,  Mrs.  E.  B.,  212. 
Hand,  study  of,  212. 
Harris,  Dr.  W.  T.,  19,  309. 
History,  146. 

aims  of  teaching,  152. 

and  the  Civil  War,  147. 

danger  of  generalizations  in, 
161. 

development   epoch   theory, 

154- 

discrimination    in    choosing 
topics,  165. 

first  fad,  the,  146. 

for  the  child,  160. 

general,  need  of,  151. 

greatness  of  peace  to  be  em- 
phasized in,  167. 

in  colleges,  158. 

in  grammar  grades,  157. 

in  high  schools,  158. 

in  primary  grades,  156. 

limits  of  school  course,  149. 

local  center  in  teaching,  164. 

need  of  grouping  in,  169. 

place  of  chronology  in,  153, 
156. 

psychological  order,  154,  156. 

reasonable  demands,  150. 

should  be  a  good  story,  166. 

teaching,  an  epoch  in  educa- 
tion, 148. 

textbooks,  149. 

war  in,  148,  168. 

why  poor  results  in,  1 50. 
Holmes,  O.  W.,  quotation  from, 

121,  276. 
How  children  learn,  44. 
Hygiene,  correlations  with  phys- 
iology, 215. 

sex,  217. 

dangers  of,  221. 
importance  of,  218. 
unfitness  of  teachers,  220. 

Industrial  training,  247. 
age  of  choice,  250. 


Index 


327 


arguments  for,  251. 

continuation  school  for,  254. 

danger  of  extremes  in,  249. 

full  time  schools  for,  254. 

guild  notion  in,  255. 

late  in  American  school,  248. 

part  time  school  for,  257. 

proper  place  of,  253. 

rural  schools,  2 58. 

sewing  and  cooking,  249. 

training  farmers,  258. 
Initiative  to  be  encouraged,  8. 
Inspiration  and  moral  develop- 
ment, 303. 
Interest,  necessity  of  vital,  63. 

Justification    of    the    language 
lesson,  59. 

Knowledge,  individual,  276. 
insufficient,  301. 
must  rouse  feelings,  301. 
of  principles  in  moral  train- 
ing, 300. 
relation,  275. 

Laboratory  method  in  teaching 

geography,  186. 
Language,  decline  in  power,  68. 
and  grammar  differentiated, 

58. 
every  lesson  a  lesson  in,  80. 
how  children  learn,  66. 
instruction,  56. 
methods,  66. 
lessons,  bad,  68. 

justification  of,   59. 
social  values  of,  59. 
motor  activities  in,  239. 
neglect  of,  in  higher  grades, 

79- 
objects  of  instruction  in,  61. 
used  effectively  by  the  illit- 
erate, 56. 
Laws  of  speech,  82. 
Learning  to  read,  17. 
Letter  writing,  60. 


Letters,  analysis  of,  in  writing, 

224. 
Life,  beauty  of,  200. 
Literature,  appreciation  of,  64. 
comprehension  and  language 

instruction,  60. 
nature  study  correlated  with, 

204. 
reading  lessons  a  study  of,  22. 
Logic  of  old  grammars,  91. 
training  in,  85. 
vs.  psychology,  35. 

Marking  silent  letters,  46. 
]\Literial  for  thought,  70. 
Mechanics  of  reading,  23. 
Methods  in  teaching  grammar, 
88,  93- 
of  instruction  in  arithmetic, 

127. 
of  instruction  in  spelling,  103. 
of  teaching  reading,  34. 
alphabetical,  36. 
must  vary  with  age,  35. 
sentence  method,  46. 
two  classes  of,  37. 
word  method,  43. 
tests  of,  43. 
Minimum,  necessary,  4. 
Models  of  good  form  essential, 
67. 
in  moral  instruction,  319. 
in  rural  schools,  321. 
local,  320. 

necessity  for  empiricism,  321. 
sources  of,  69. 
Moore,  T.,  quotation  from,  205. 
Moral  atmosphere,  306. 
Moral  instruction,  315. 
courses  in,  315. 
discussion  in,  317. 
general    course    impossible, 

316. 
models,  319. 
religious,  318. 
stories  and  poems  in,  319. 


328 


Index 


Moral  judgment  personal,  i6o. 
Moral  training,  291. 

and  school  discipline,  308. 
and  school  virtues,  309. 

silence,  309. 
function  of,  in  school,  304. 
influence  of  environment  on, 

302. 
inspiration  and  character  of, 

303- 
knowledge  of  principles  of, 
300. 
insufficient,  301. 
neatness,  312. 
obedience,  310. 
occupation,  313. 
place  of  authority,  299. 
possibility  of,  295. 
prohibition,  296. 
punctuality,  311. 
pupil  a  contributor,  313. 
the  teacher  in,  305. 
work  and  its  motives,  306. 
Morality,  essentials  of,  294. 
Morals    and    morality    distin- 
guished, 293. 
Motor  activities,    and  the  de- 
fective, 235. 
brain  areas  affected  by,  234. 
in  arithmetic,  242. 
in  expression,  226,  233. 
in  geometry,  242. 
in  language  instruction,  75, 

239- 
lack  of  coordination,  236. 
pantomime  and  drama,  244. 
physical  culture,  243. 
reform  is  needed,  245. 
value  of  doer,  227. 
Music,  canned,  271. 

development  of  taste,  271. 
good  to  sing,  272. 

Nature  study,  196. 
aim  of,  196. 
basis  of  character,  210. 


chaotic,  197. 
correlation  in,  204. 
dangers  from  wrong  empha- 
sis, 208. 
early  blunders  in,  197. 
field  excursions  for,  202. 
in  cities,  202. 
methods   of    instruction   in, 

201. 
natural  setting  in,  201. 
near  rather  than  remote  in, 

198. 
out  of  doors,  201. 
relation  of  men  to  nature  in, 

203. 
two  points  of  view  in,  208. 
untimely  knowledge,  209. 
Neatness,  312. 
Neglect  of  language  in  higher 

grades,  79. 
Newton,  M.  B.,  work  of,  243. 
Number  a  mental  product,  in. 
need  of  system  in,  in. 
utilitarian  end  of,  112. 
Numeration,      the      basis      of 
thought,  109. 

Obedience,  310. 

Occupation  and  moral  training, 

313- 
Oral  expression,  71. 

Pantomime  and  drama,  244. 
Paragraph,  the,  71. 
Parsons,  Belle  R.,  243. 
Parts  of  speech,  96. 
Peace,  greatness  of,  167. 
Phonetic,  English  language  not, 

41. 
Phonic    methods    of    teaching 

reading,  37. 
Phonic  systems,  40. 
Phonics  and  spelling,  39. 
Physical     culture     and     motor 

activities,  243. 
Physical  features  of  geography, 

study  of,  179. 


Index 


329 


Physicians,  school,  222. 
Physiological  methods  of  teach- 
ing reading,  42. 
Physiology,  206. 
analysis  of,  206. 
correlations  of  hygiene,  215. 
dangers  of,  221. 
errors  in  treatment  of,  207. 
legislative     meddling     with, 

20^7. 
sex  hygiene,  217. 

importance  of,  218. 
mixed  classes,  219. 
school  physicians,  222. 
unfitness  of  teachers  of, 
220. 
scientific  method,  212. 

temperance,  214. 
study  of  hand  in,  212. 
study  of  skin  in,  214. 
what  to  study,  211. 
Pictures  in  geography,  180. 
Picturesque,    geography    should 

be,  180. 
Poems  and  stories  in  moral  in- 
struction, 319. 
Predicate,  subject  and,  94. 
Preliminar>'  practice  for  reading 

aloud,  53. 
Primary  grades,  geography  for, 
183. 
history  in,  156. 
Principal  and  courses,  in  morals, 

320. 
Principles,  knowledge  of,  in  moral 

training,  300. 
Programs,  daily,  should  be  made 

by  teacher,  8. 
Progression,  need  of,  in  language 

lessons,  74. 
Prohibitions,  needs  and  dangers 

of,  296. 
Pronunciation,  27. 

correction  of,  30. 
Psychological  order  in  history, 
154,  156- 


Psychology  vs.  logic,  35. 

Punctuality,  311. 

Pupil  and  school  society,  313. 

Range  of  activities  in  course,  10. 
Rapid  reading,  50. 
Reaction  necessary,  230. 
Reading,  aims  of,  15. 
aloud,  26. 
art  of,  32. 
elements  of,  26. 
enunciation,  27. 
pronunciation,  27. 
the  nature  of,  26. 
appreciation,  51. 
grading  of,  24. 
higher  grades,  24. 
intermediate  grades,  50. 
learning  to,  17. 
lesson  a  study  of  literature, 

22. 
mechanics  necessary,  2;^. 
methods  of  instruction,  34. 
alphabetical,  36. 
two  classes,  37. 
nature  of,  15. 
poetry,  23. 
rapid,  50. 

thought  element  in,  20. 
value  of,  13. 
Relation,  study  of,  in  grammar, 

96. 
Religion  in  moral  training,  303. 
Religious  instruction,  318. 
Results  required,  6. 
Rice,  J.  M.,  106. 
Rigmarole,  the,  231. 
Rules,  place  of,  76. 
Rural    schools    and    industrial 
training,  258. 
moral  instruction  in,  321. 

School,  function    of,   in    moral 

training,  304. 
School  a  life,  312. 

society,  313. 

virtues,  309. 


330 


Index 


Schools,  altruistic,  314. 
Science,  grammar  a,  58. 
Selection  of  topics,  in  geography, 
172. 
in  history,  167. 
Sentence,  the,  72. 

.  begin  with,  in  teaching  gram- 
mar, 93. 
method  of  teaching  reading, 

46. 
the    best    unit    in    teaching 
reading,  46. 
Sewing  and  cooking,  first  indus- 
trial subjects,  249. 
Shakespeare,    quotation    from, 

205. 
Silence,  309. 

Silent  letters,  marking,  45,  46. 
Singing,  260,  264. 
Skin,  study  of,  214. 
Social  values  of  language  lessons, 

59- 

Sources  of  models  of  good  Eng- 
lish, 69. 

Special  methods  of  teaching  read- 
ing, 48. 

Speech,  laws  of,  82. 

Spelling,  100. 

methods  of  instruction,  103. 

Stories  and  poems  in  moral  in- 
struction, 319. 

Story,  good,  importance  in  his- 
tory books,  166. 

Stress  varied,  5. 

Subject  and  predicate,  94. 

Superintendent,  duty  of,  toward 
geography,  193. 

Synthesis,  analysis  and.  of  words, 
18. 

System,  need  of,  in  number,  iii. 

Taste  in  reading,  development 

of,  20. 
Teacher,    duty  of,    in   teaching 

geography,  193. 
in  moral  training,  305. 


what  one  did  in  geography, 
194. 
Teachers,  unfitness  for  teaching 

sex  hygiene,  220. 
Temperance,  scientific,  214. 
Tests  of  word  method  of  teach- 
ing reading,  43. 
Think,  training  to,  64,  69. 
Thinking,  clear,  essential  to  good 
expression,  71. 
high,     language    instruction 
necessary  to,  60. 
Thought  compelling  material  in 
grammar.  98. 
devices  for  clarif>ing,  74. 
element  in  reading,  20. 
grasp  of.  in  reading  aloud,  53. 
material  for,  70. 
Time  element  in  teaching  arith- 
metic, 127. 
Topics  of  curriculvun  composite, 
278. 
none    dominant   in   correla- 
tion, 281. 
Training  to  think,  64,  69. 
Types,  study  of,  in  geography, 
184. 

Uniformity,  what  degree  desir- 
able, 3. 

Unit,  fixed  in  arithmetic,  137. 

Units  in  teaching  reading,  36. 
larger,  48. 

Unity  of  aim  and  purpose,  4. 

Unknown  quantity  in  arithmetic, 
140. 

Utilitarian  end  of  teaching  num- 
ber, 112,  128. 

\'aried  stress,  5. 
Vocabular>'  enriching,  64. 
developing,  76. 

War  in  history,  148,  168. 
Waste  in  teaching,  281. 
a  source  of,  283. 


Ind 


ex 


331 


White,  E.  E.,  309. 

Whitman,  Walt,  quotation  from, 

198. 
Word  method  of  teaching  read- 
ing, 43- 
natural,  45. 
tests  of,  43. 


Words  spoken  and  written, 
analysis  and  synthesis 
of,  16,  17. 

Work  and  its  motives  in  moral 
training,  306. 

Writing,  223. 

analysis  of  letters,  224. 


3  i}  1  7 


m 


^21196* 


«EC'D  Mtnr 


3   mi 


Form  L-9-10»n-5,'28 


UKiV 


UCLAYoung   Research    Library 

LB1570  .G37 


lllll  nil     III     III  I  I   .;   II    II  II   II  I   III      II 

L  009   528  296  8 

\LIFOR>'' ' 


L  6 
S   31 


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